The Little Ladybird
by emmacrade24
Summary: Sarah is just a normal linguist working for SHIELD, or rather she was before Loki turned her into one of the enhanced with the use of his scepter. Coming to terms with being a superhero can be harder than you'd think and being an asthmatic certainly doesn't help. 'Join the Avengers,' they said. 'It'll be fun,' they said. This follows the Age of Ultron story line and on. (Pietro/OC)
1. Chapter 1

**Hello all! This is my first Avengers fanfic and I'm really excited about it. I tried to stick as close to the movie as I could, of course not owning the movie made that difficult but such is life! Later on in this story I will continue on passed what the movie shows. So I hope you enjoy the story feel free to leave comments! Talk to you soon!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or anything in association; I do own my own character however.**

* * *

"Nat you're driving is a little erratic!" I shouted holding onto the metal railings of the jeep for dear life as we lurched to the side, dangerously close to flipping over.

"Hey, no back seat drivers." Was the red head's snarky response. I grinned and hurtled a wave of translucent blue energy at a Hydra agent that was shooting at our vehicle. We were in Sokovia trying to steal back Loki's scepter that was inconveniently 'misplaced' after the battle in New York. And let me tell you, this cold was getting to me, sure my grey uniform was a great insulator but nothing beat East European winter.

Up ahead of us, Thor was dramatically disabling the agents with his hammer alongside Steve on his motorcycle. A tank exploded down the path so I wrapped our jeep in a shield of protective energy as we drove through the debris. There was a barricade that had been placed in front of us and Natasha swung the car to the side effectively forcing her, Clint and me to jump. This time she did cause the car to flip. I tucked into a neat roll and sprung back up onto my feet immediately jumping back into action. I hated when she pulled stunts like that, not all of us were highly trained assassins ready for everything!

While Thor was busy smashing a Hydra agent with his hammer, two more snuck behind him. But I blasted them away before they got the chance to do anything, not that they were likely to harm him anyway. Stark zoomed on ahead in his Iron Man suit towards the compound where I eventually lost sight of him in the trees.

"Shit!" He yelled over the coms.

"Language." Cap scolded automatically. I smirked, he was such an old fuddy-duddy sometimes. Not that I faulted him for it, Tony did have a sailor's mouth on him at times...all the time really.

"Jarvis what's the view from upstairs?"

"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield," My ears perked up at this. Energy shields were kind of my specialty. "Strucker's technology is well beyond that of any other Hydra base we've taken." Jarvis dutifully informed us.

I threw myself sideways behind a fallen log, dodging the incoming canon fire. Landing next to Clint in a heap I said in exasperation,

"Tanks? Really? A little much don't you think?" Although my tone was light, the war machines still made me nervous. Anything that shot at me had that kind of effect. My powers were unreliable, seeing as that I got them from an unreliable source. Even though they've yet to give me a reason to doubt them, every time I use my abilities there's a nagging in the back of my head that this'll be the day something goes wrong.

Clint glanced over at me briefly and shook his head with a shrug.

"This I can handle; people and weapons, no problem." He stood up quickly and fired an explosive arrow into the canon's opening, "at least it's not space aliens" he muttered under his breath, ducking back down as bits of metal flew in our direction. Flashes of our New York battle filtered through my mind and I grimaced. Hopefully retrieving the scepter would be the end of our extraterrestrial problems for a while.

"Loki's scepter must be here." Thor exclaimed in a sure voice, "Strucker couldn't mount his defense without it. At long last." The Asgardian spoke that last part to himself. I knew the Asgardian was itching to get all this behind him, he still felt partly responsible for Loki's action back in America. The only person I blamed for New York was the Frost Giant himself, no one else.

The Hydra agents spilled out of the tanks in a rush, smoke pouring out of the openings from the bomb Tasha tossed in. Thor, noticing them, rushed forward to take them out. I watched for a moment, still impressed with the Asgardian's strength after all this time.

"At long last, is lasting a little long don't you think guys?" Natasha joked as she skillfully took out two agents with some graceful spin moves that I know idea how to perform. She made me look like a newborn giraffe with the way she moved. Honestly, how could a normal human be so coordinated?

"Yeah, I think we lost the element of surprise." Hawkeye conceded shooting down agents surrounding a nearby tank. Don't even get me started on his marksmanship, it was impeccable.

"Wait a second, no one else is going to deal with the fact that Cap just said 'Language'?" Tony questioned cutting back into the conversation. I laughed before slamming a barrier into the incoming Hydra agents that we trying to drive us back.

"I know," Steve sighed before flipping off his motorcycle and sending it sailing into a truck full of agents, "it just slipped out." I feel like I shouldn't be as impressed with my teammates after the past couple years of working with them, but when they pulled stunts like that I seriously doubted my competency to be on this team.

"Byrd, why don't you go see if Stark needs help? We've got this covered here." Clint told me, fixing a couple of his arrow heads. I nodded and tucked a blonde strand behind my ear preparing to take off towards the base. A tank fired at the both of us and we sidestepped behind a tree cautiously. Clint twisted around to fire an arrow only to have a grey blur snatch it midair.

Clint and I shared a similar confused looked. What the hell was that? The archer reloaded and proceed to turn to shoot once more but in a flash he was sprawled out on the ground groaning. What just happened? Barton quickly moved to his knees to stand.

"You did not see that coming?" I whipped around at the heavily accented voice, instinctively drawing on my abilities the air becoming thick with energy as I prepared a defense. It was a man, young, probably around my age. He was cute, I thought offhandedly, weird hair though.

He wore a smirk on his face as Clint glared at him. The stranger looked over at me and seeing my bewildered expression he winked and then sped off. Ok, so Hydra was recruiting local super powered people, is that what I'm gathering?

I didn't have the chance to contemplate on it more before I was sailing through the air and tumbling down a snow ridden hill. A shocked cry escaped my lips, followed quickly by a grunt as I impacted into a show drift. My head swam for a few seconds, trying to keep up with what happened, but I wasn't so sure myself. My lungs burned briefly as some of the air was knocked out of them, a feeling of panic waved over me as I pleaded with my body to stay calm. This was not the time for my asthma to flare up.

I blinked rapidly when a snowy strand of hair fell over my eyes and when I swiped it away, the man was standing directly in front of me with a curious expression. He seemed so much bigger up close, he's got to be at least a good eight inches taller than me. No matter, I've fought aliens, I'd be fine I told myself. Warily I pulled together a barrier between the two of us, making sure that he kept his distance.

"How did you do that?" He asked in an interested voice his eyes widening comically in surprise. I raised an eyebrow at him and sucked in a good breath before answering, feeling relieved when there no was resistance.

"How did you do… whatever it was that you just did?" I countered standing back up, careful to keep my distance. The silver haired man smirked, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"It is not fair if you ask the same question without giving an answer." His English was pretty clear despite the fact that Sokovian was such a guttural language, normally the accent was harder to understand. I was a linguist for SHIELD or used to be anyway before the agency fell, so languages were kind of my thing. I wonder where he learned to speak English so fluently.

"Yes, it's a long story so I'm sure you don't have time for it, what with Hydra trying to take over the world and what not." I replied snarkily, the guy was throwing me off with his talk of fairness, it was odd hearing that from a Hydra agent. The man's face contorted in befuddlement.

"I do not work for Hydra." He corrected. I raised an eyebrow and grinned.

"Your jacket says Hydra on it." I pointed out gesturing towards the creepy octopus insignia. The man glanced down at his clothing with a look of surprise. He laughed and ran a hand through his silver hair.

"Yes, well my English reading is not very good." The man said abashedly.

"It's probably better than my Sokovian." I replied with a shrug. This was a safe topic, I could talk language…wow that statement's ironic.

"You speak Sokovian?" He asked with an impressed expression.

"Not very well, but enough to be able to ask 'where's the food?'" I joked, the silver haired man nodded along with a smile. Hopefully I could keep him talking long enough to avoid any actual fighting. I wouldn't say I was a coward but I have never been one to enjoy violence. Typically I try to avoid using my powers unless necessary.

"A very important question. So what are you doing here?" The silver haired man asked abruptly changing the conversation. Oh smooth transition dude.

"Working." I answered simply, surely he knew why they were there. "What are you doing here?"

"Working." He repeated. My eyebrows furrowed and I restrained myself from rolling my green eyes at his response,

"For Hydra you mean. Kind of a seedy bunch if you ask me."

"Good thing I did not ask you then." I scowled at his bluntness. I wondered where this conversation was going, he hadn't attacked me yet aside from the whole initial shoving me down a hill thing.

"Do you know where the scepter is?" I queried watching him as he took his time circling around me. He looked like a lion preparing to eat the lamb. I would be lying if I said I wasn't intimidated. As I've said before I am not a good offensive player, I have my shields and that's all. And I was slightly worried that he'd be fast enough to work around them.

"I might, and I might not. Why do you want to know?" He retorted crossing his arms over his chest.

"You know why." The man stared hard at me, not replying immediately. It looked like he was having an internal debate with himself. I couldn't imagine over what though. Maybe he was contemplating betraying Hydra and helping us out.

"You are very beautiful." Was what eventually came out of the Sokovians mouth. My jaw dropped dumbly as I gawked at him. _That_ was what he was going with? I was expecting something more…more. "But you are an Avenger." He conceded, nodding to himself as if he made a decision.

"Ok?" I said dragging out the word because I didn't understand where he was going with this. The man blurred out of sight momentarily before appearing on the other side of my barrier. Alright my plan was flawed, I should have just made a complete dome around myself and not half assed it. I thought belatedly.

The speedster grabbed hold of both my arms firmly which prevented me from being able to run away. Not that I would make it far if I had the chance.

"Hey!" I sputtered taking a nervous step back.

"I have been told about you Ladybird," He said using my codename. I hated that name, Maria had an affinity for Mrs. Ladybird Johnson and since my last name was Byrd she thought was being clever when she assigned it to me after I entered SHIELD.

"You protect those monsters, those murderers." He sneered with disgust evident on his face. This little talk of ours was gunna take a turn for the worst, I could feel it. My heart rate picked up at the intense look he was giving me. He sure flipped a switch quickly.

"And for what? They do not deserve protection." The Sokovian added cruelly.

"They're my family, are you saying you wouldn't protect your own?" I defended angrily, who was he to tell me who _deserved_ what. His face softened slightly then as if what I said made sense to him, but it wasn't enough to break his resolve.

"Where is Stark?" He demanded. I glared as his grip tightened on my wrists.

"Where's the scepter?" I threw back at him just as fiercely. I gasped as the world shifted out of focus for a hot second and then I was being slammed up against a tree.

"Where is Stark?" He asked again more aggressively. I glared into the man's striking blue eyes, he was not one for patience apparently.

"Probably wherever the scepter is, have you not been paying attention?" I hissed through my teeth, the bark was digging my back uncomfortably. "The team isn't leaving here without it you know." He pressed me harder into the tree for a moment before letting me drop onto the snowy ground. I raised my hand to shove him away with a pulse of energy, but the asshole flitted to the other side of the clearing before I had the chance.

"I like you better when you were calling me beautiful." I told him rubbing my shoulder. He smirked and again I was annoyed at how handsome he was. Stupid cocky asshole. And then he was gone. "Good riddance." I muttered agitatedly before jogging back up the snow bank towards the team.

* * *

I stared in rapt attention as Helen's machine basically misted new cells on to Clint's side. It was like a spray tan, but one that provided health benefits instead of just adding fake color to your skin. This was probably one the coolest things I've seen by far. Which is saying a lot since I've seen aliens reign down from the sky.

Luckily Clint was the only one to get hurt, and even then it wasn't life threatening. I feel like the archer gets hurt more so than the rest of us, poor guy.

We had gotten the scepter back, freaking finally. This thing was turning out the be the ring from Lord of the Rings. Everyone wanted it and it was constantly being stolen then stolen back. And apparently the fast dude had an enhanced partner, some chicky with creepy mind powers, she sounded like a witch of some sort. But the thing with Loki was finally over, so I wasn't worrying much about the superpowered Hydra agents yet.

"You sure he's gunna be ok? Pretending to need this guy really brings the team together." Natasha joked satirically. I giggled at Clint's expense and patted Barton's arm.

"Don't worry, I still appreciate you." I patronized, he just gave a halfhearted glare and slapped at my hand. In all honesty, I don't know what we would do without Clint. He's always had my back and always saw what I didn't. Seriously, the guy gets down played a lot but he keeps up with the big bosses on nothing but pure skill.

"There's no possibility of interior degeneration. The nano-molecular functionality is instantaneous, the cells don't know they're molding with microns." Dr. Cho explained, most of the time I didn't understand all her scientific nonsense, but it works and that's good enough for me.

"She's creating tissue!" Bruce marveled coming up from behind me. He was like a kid in a candy store, he looked so excited at the prospect of creating new cells I could basically see the stars in his brown eyes.

"If you brought him to my lab, the regeneration cradle could do this in twenty minutes." Dr. Cho beamed chatting it up with our resident doctor. She had unofficially become our on hand medic, and it was depressing that we needed one. But she was a lifesaver, literally.

"Oh, he's flat lining. Call it. Time?" Stark proclaimed bringing in a tray of nasty vegetable and vitamin juices. He was in this new phase where he was trying to get us to down these disgusting rejuvenating drinks after missions. Bruce and I had taken to sipping on it for a minute, then tossing in a plant pot when Stark turned his back.

"Oh, no, no, no. I'm gunna live forever." Clint chuckled sarcastically.

"An immortal Barton? I don't think I want to live a world like that." I jested, avoiding Clint's hand as he tried to smack me playfully.

"It'd be a damn shame if the old man here out lived us all." Tony commented passing me the horrible green smoothie. My nose scrunched in disgust but I choked down a drink just to appease the billionaire. I wasn't in the mood for another lecture on health.

"Whatever man, you're older than I am." Barton rebutted. He was lucky because he was laying down and couldn't accept the poison. Maybe I should have gotten shot too. I thought glaring at the offending liquid.

"Yes, but I'm younger in here," Stark poked at the spot above his heart dramatically, "and that's what really counts." Tony patted Clint's shoulder and handed the rest of the group their beverages.

"Hey Banner there's something I wanted to go over with you in the lab." Tony said nodding his head toward the door.

"Oh yeah sure, see you guys later." The two nerds headed out of the med bay going off to do Lord knows what. Those two were adorable when they got together to talk science, Natasha and I secretly called them the science bros.

The second Tony was out of sight I pushed his disastrous concoction away from me; Nat on the other hand downed hers almost immediately. Clint and I gave her a grossed out look to which she just shrugged.

"I've had worse."

"Uhuh." I responded disbelievingly, I didn't want to imagine that anything could be worse than that nasty substance. Seriously it was like he put the most disgusting ingredients together and hoped for the best.

"He's throwing a party tonight you know." Tasha informed us. "Show of hands, who's excited?" No one raised their hands, Clint and I weren't one for big crowds, especially not Tony's crowd. Did that make me lame? Yeah probably, oh well.

"Aw come on guys, it's free alcohol." Nat reminded us. Clint snorted at her comment.

"That's true, how could we ever say no to a night with drunk Stark?" Barton replied sarcastically.

"What about you Dr. Cho are you going?" The young doctor looked away from her screens and glanced nervously at us.

"Will Thor be going?" Helen blushed and I tried not to smile. Well, well, well looks like someone's got a crush on our Norse god. Who could blame her though, actually all of my team members were exceptionally gorgeous. Were all heroes predetermined to be attractive or did our group just get extremely lucky?

"Yes, so I expect everyone to be there." Natasha said pointedly giving her partner and me a look.

"Yeah, yeah I'm sure it'll be a blast. Y'all can leave now, I'm gunna take a nap while this thing puts me back together." Clint dismissed as he threw an arm over his eyes to block out the fluorescent lights.

"Sarah?" The red headed spy prompted.

"Yeah I be there." I grumbled despite the fact that I didn't want to spend night surrounded by drunk strangers.

* * *

I caught a glimpse of myself in the hallway mirror on my way downstairs, I was all dolled up and ready to go. But I wasn't really up for this party, but I figured since I'm twenty-three I should live a little. A frown worked its way on my face, I've never been a party person. I think I have the soul of a crotchety old man lurking in me somewhere.

Nat made me wear the long sleeve navy dress that Pepper sent me for my birthday last year. It fell just above my knees and I paired it with simple black pointed-toe flats. My hair I just blow dried straight instead of just going with my natural waves so my blonde hair went a few inches past my shoulder now. I was no Natasha Romanoff but I looked pretty good, nice enough to attend Stark's party at least.

There were tons of people downstairs, most of whom I had never seen before and probably wouldn't again. I wondered how Tony knew so many strangers; when he had these get-togethers I almost never saw the same faces twice. I spotted Steve hanging out around the couches but there were a couple men smoking outside on the balcony next to the seating area so I changed my direction and headed for Maria. She was talking with Rhodey, Stark, and Thor. I didn't see Dr. Cho standing with them so I guess she hadn't work up enough courage to talk to the Asgardian yet.

"No Pepper, she's not coming?" I heard Rhodey ask as I approached the group.

"Hey." I greeted Maria quietly, the older agent smiled and passed me a glass of red wine, ah she knew me so well. Taking a sip, I angled towards the guys and leaned against the table.

"No." Stark replied shaking his head.

"Well, What about Jane? Where are the ladies? Gentlemen." Maria questioned, slightly slurring. Apparently she had pre-gamed without me.

"Well Ms. Potts has a... company to run." Tony explained sipping at his bourbon.

"I'm not even sure what country Jane's in. Her work in the convergence has made her the world's most foremost astronomer." Thor one-upped. The Asgardian was wearing Earth clothes, or whatever you would call them. Personally, I liked his warrior get up more but that was only because he was all muscly and what not. His jacket now was hiding all his godlike physique I noticed disappointedly.

"And the company that Pepper runs is the largest tech conglomerate on earth. It's pretty exciting." Tony bragged none too subtly. A smile worked its way onto my features, look at the boys defending their women! They're adorable, I thought in passing.

"There's even talk of Jane getting a," The Asgardian prince paused as he tried to come up with the right word, "a Nobel Prize." That I didn't know, I'm impressed. Of course I knew Jane was completely brilliant, but I never recognized the level that she was playing at.

"Yeah they must be pretty busy because they'd hate missing you guys get together...Testosterone!" Maria coughed covering her mouth. I grinned and patted her back in a mock sympathetic gesture.

"Oh my goodness!" Rhodey exclaimed placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Excuse me." She apologized clearing her throat.

"Want a lozenge?" I offered.

"Mm-hmm." She pretending to still be recovering from her cough as we left Thor and Tony behind to argue over whose horse was bigger.

"Jane's better." Thor refuted finally to Tony as we walked away.

Later that night once the party goers had left, we all sat around the coffee table listening to each other's war stories. Most of the evening I stuck by Maria, she was much better at delegating when it was appropriate to exit a group and move on to other guests when the conversation got too dull. Helen had chosen to hang out with us a little longer, most nights she would just head back to her lab. It was nice when we were all able to be with one another without the usual eminent death hovering above us. It made our little band of friends feel a little more normal or as normal as we could be seeing as that the group consisted of a spy, an assassin, a god, a green giant, a super soldier, a billionaire in a metal suit and a super powered college student.

""Whosoever, be he worthy, shall have the power", whatever man, it's a trick!" Clint claimed slightly drunk from a night of drinking. Thor chuckled and set his hammer down on the coffee table.

"It is more than that, my friend. Please, be my guest." He challenged grinning at the prospect. I watched Clint in amusement, sincerely hoping that he would take the bait.

"Come on." Tony prodded childishly. Barton huffed and tapped his drumsticks together.

"Really?" He sighed and tossed down the wooden sticks before standing up, "Alright." Clint grinned and strode over to where Thor's hammer was laying.

"Now, Clint you've had a tough week. We won't hold it against you if you can't get it up." Tony teased. Always the asshole Stark. Barton ignored him and said to Thor,

"You know I've seen this before right?" Thor just smiled and patiently wait for Clint to fail, as we all knew he would. The archer grabbed the handle of the hammer tightly with one hand and strained as he tried to get it to move. He let out a grunt, but nothing happened so he gave up laughing.

"I still don't know how you do it." He said shaking his head in wonder and chuckling off his failure.

"Do you smell the silent judgment?" Stark questioned, earning an eye roll from me.

"Please Stark, by all means." Clint said gesturing for Tony to take the hammer before he plopped back onto his seat. Without hesitation, Stark rose from the couch and dramatically popped open his suit jacket.

"I'm never one to shrink from an honest challenge." Ugh, enough with innuendos. "It's physics." The genius commented as he wrapped his hand around the hammer, "So if I lift this, I get to rule Asgard?"

"Yes, of course." Thor said, but I know for a fact that, that would never happen even if Tony lifted the hammer. I trusted the guy, but I didn't trust him to rule a planet. And neither does Thor.

"I will be reinstituting Prima Noctae."

"Oh dear God." I commented in exasperation tucking my feet underneath me on the couch, making sure that my dress didn't rise up to an inappropriate length. But no matter how much Tony struggled, he couldn't get the thing to budge. He let go and placed his hands on his hips.

"Be right back."

He returned with an Iron Man gauntlet on, but that was pretty useless too. Even when Rhodey joined in on the action. I didn't care though, I had a wine buzz and these idiots were the perfect entertainment. And I absolutely loved it when Tony failed at something, he was so smug all the time it was a nice refresher.

"Are you even pulling?" Tony complained to his best friend who he had recruited.

"Just represent!" Rhodey told him frustratedly. But when they couldn't do anything, they gave up. Bruce stepped up and gave his best attempt, which was basically a whole lot a pulling and not a lot of movement. He did however get a laugh out of me when he pretended to transform into the Hulk, I was the only one though. The others just smiled in a patronizing manor at him as if he were a two year old.

"Sarah gets it." He muttered dejectedly. Yeah, it was time to set my wine glass down, I thought as I placed it on to the side table.

"Natasha?" The red head was asked.

"Oh no, that's not a question I need answered." The spy replied taking a sip of her beer. When Cap got up for his turn, I could see Thor get a little worried. If any one of us could lift it would be Steve.

The super soldier gripped the hammer with both hands and to all of surprise he got it to budge, only slightly, but enough to squeak the glass. Thor's smile dropped off his face instantly and his eyes bugged out of his head. But that was the extent to Steve's hammer wielding abilities. Thor released a nervous laugh and anxiously chugged his whiskey.

"Byrd, what about you?" Well shit if Steve can't lift it I don't have a chance.

"Oh no I've got zero muscle, these limp noodles probably couldn't lift a non-magical hammer of that size on a good day." I replied poking my scrawny arms to emphasize my point.

"I keep telling you that I'll help train you." Steve offered leaning back on the couch to look at me.

"Yeah because the last time went so well." Natasha laughed. I glared at her, it wasn't _that_ bad.

"It's biometrics, right? Like a security code? "Whoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints" is, I think, the literal translation." Stark quipped unwilling to admit defeat.

"Yes, well that's a very, very interesting theory. I have a simpler one:" The Asgardian informed us, he easily picked up the hammer and spun it in the air before catching it. "You are not worthy." This caused the room to boo him and ridicule his explanation.

A piercing noise rang throughout the room, I quickly slapped my hands over my ears to help drown out the ear splitting pitch. The sound caused my stomach to plummet and my heart to drop. I had a bad feeling about this. I stood as one of Tony's suits stumbled into the room, leaking oil fluids and generally looking beat up.

"How could you be worthy?" It asked in a creepy mechanical voice. "You're all killers, well most of you." The way it walked reminded me of the zombies from the Walking Dead.

"Stark?" Steve questioned nervously.

"Jarvis?" Tony asked in alarm.

"I'm sorry I was asleep. Or it was dream." It seems confused, I knew I was.

"Reboot Legionnaire, we got a buggy suit." Tony commanded Jarvis as he quickly pressed on his phone.

"There was this terrible noise," The suit continued. I shifted forward curiously, but cautiously I lit up a hand in my energy ready to defend Helen who was seated on the couch next to me.

"And I was tangled in….in strings," it said shuffling around peering down at itself, "Had to kill the other guy, he was a good guy."

"You killed someone?" I asked horrified.

"Wouldn't have been my first call. But down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices."

"Who sent you?" Thor asked stepping forward.

"I see a suit of armor around the world." Was the reply, but it was Tony's voice that came out of the suit's mouth. Where was that recording from?

"Ultron." Bruce realized. Ultron? What's an Ultron?

"In the flesh. Or no, not yet," It corrected, "not this chrysalis." I heard Maria cock back her gun subtly as she rose up from the couch and Thor had picked up his hammer. "But I'm ready, I'm on a mission."

"What mission?" Natasha questioned. I glanced at Clint and he gave me a short nod. Slowly I moved closer to Helen without taking my eyes off the suit. Ultron looked directly at us then and said,

"Peace in our time." At that more of Stark's suits bursts through the walls and I jumped in front of Dr. Cho wrapping us both under a protective covering. One flew right at us but rebounded off the shield and into Thor's awaiting hammer.

"Move!" I shouted at Cho grabbing her arm and pulling us out of the way. She screamed at a suit charged us but I sent it flying backwards before it could get near. Nat and Banner jumped behind the bar and I ushered Helen behind the piano and shielded my teammates as they scattered around the loft.

"You ok?" I asked Helen.

"Yes." She wavered, fear evident in her voice. Poor woman, this is not what she signed up for at all.

"We'll be fine." I assured her, giving the doctor a smile. Peering around the piano I found that Stark had latched himself onto the back of one of his flying suit and was struggling to dismantle it. Creepily the droids began to recite 'it isn't safe, we are here to help' over and over again. I'm gunna have a complex about this later.

"That was dramatic." Ultron commented after Cap used his shield to destroy the last robot ended the fight as quickly as it started. "I'm sorry I know you mean well, you just didn't think it through." Ultron said limping along. "You wanna protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to evolve? With these?" he asked, holding up a broken suit and crushing its skull before tossing it to the ground "these puppets? There's only one path to peace. The Avengers extinction." And with that last happy statement, Thor smashed his hammer through Ultron.

"I had strings, but now I'm free…" Ultron recited as the oil leaked out his head in a graphic manor as it 'bled out'.

"I am never watching Pinocchio again." I stated aghast as the robot sang out the lines from the old Disney movie. This was the last night of normal we would be having for a while, I could feel it.

 **Alright so there's the first chapter! Hope you guys liked it. I will try to update as soon as I can! Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome back! Hope you liked that last chapter, this one is about 3,000 words longer than the first. Uhhhhh don't know what else to say but thank you to those who reviewed, it is much appreciated! Please enjoy!**

* * *

Tony and Bruce hurried off to their lab leaving the rest of us to follow closely behind. My mind was running at a million miles an hour. What did this mean for us? What was Ultron planning on doing? I sincerely hoped this wasn't going to escalate into another world wide crisis, I think we deal with those often enough as is.

My other team members looked as discontented at I felt. Of course Natasha had a blank expression painted on her features as per usual but most were scowling with worried frowns. That always makes me feel better when the more experienced teammates were worried, it's a good sign. I thought sarcastically.

We were silent as the two scientists typed away on their computers, both faces contorted in concentration. From what they could gather Ultron had violently disabled Jarvis in a fit of uncontrolled rage.

"Woah, it's going around." Clint muttered as Thor rushed across the room and lifted Tony off the ground by his neck.

"Woah! Stop, stop!" I yelled frantically as I uselessly pulled at Thor's arms in an attempt to get him to release Stark. The god easily shook me off him and Steve grabbed arm and pulled me away from the pair. Ok, so I hated Tony at the moment too but lets not get carried away Thor!

"Use your words!" Tony choked out.

"I have more than enough words to describe you Tony Stark." Thor said coolly.

"Thor." Cap shouted. "The Legionnaire?" Reluctantly, the god dropped Stark and pushed the inventor away from himself.

"I lost them somewhere over the mountains, I could not retrieve Loki's scepter." Well this night just kept getting better and better.

"Why is Ultron trying to kill us?" Helen asked, addressing the elephant in the room. The poor doctor didn't look very good, her skin was paler than normal and her eyes were watery.

"He blames us for the world's problems." Steve commented looking quite shaken himself over the ordeal

"But why? Does he believe our efforts to be ineffective?" Thor questioned confusion clear on his features.

"I think a better word would be detrimental. Ultron seems to think we do more bad than good." I corrected the blonde god. I kept a weary eye on him, I half expected for him to lunge for Tony again.

"So he thinks he can do it better than us?" Clint attempted to clarify. I shrugged, that's what it seemed like.

"But why kill us?"

"No, not kill. He wants to exterminate us." Natasha said heavily. I sighed and rubbed my cheeks frustratedly. So what were we supposed to do now that a crazy robot was out to 'exterminate' us? This was like a bad episode of Doctor Who. And at the most inappropriate time possible Tony started giggling. Bruce shook his head vehemently and tried to non-verbally get him to stop.

"Tony, really?" I reprimanded, shocked that he was taking this so lightly.

"You think this is funny?" Thor asked angrily working himself up again.

"No, this is probably not funny." But Tony said it more of a question as if he wasn't sure how he was supposed to answer. "Right? This is very bad? This is—it is…" he broke off in laughter.

"This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand." Thor criticized, exasperated with Tony's meddling. As he should be, I knew I was. Loki's scepter was not something to just play with. If I had my way we would have destroyed that thing or least sent it back to Asgard by now.

"No, I'm sorry." Tony said far from apologetic. "I'm sorry. It is funny, it's a _hoot_ that you don't get why we need this."

"Tony, this may not be the time." Banner cautioned. Stark whipped around giving Bruce an incredulous look.

" _Really_? That's it? You just roll over, show your belly every time someone snarls." Tony sneered.

"Only when I created a murder bot." Bruce remarked defensively.

"We didn't." Tony insisted, "We weren't even close. Were we close to building an interface?" Bruce pressed his lips into a flat line nodding. Closer than they realized, I thought.

"Well you did something right," Steve interjected stepping over to Stark with his arms crossed over his broad chest, "And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD."

"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole." I groaned and rubbed my cheeks frustratedly, here we go.

"No, it's never come up." Rhodey sassed.

"Saved New York?"

"Never heard that."

"Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but that up there," He pointed upwards with an overwhelmed chuckle, "that's the end game. How were you guys planning on beating them?"

"Together." Cap avowed immediately. Steve was always saying cheesy stuff like that, but for some reason his consistent lameness was a comfort. But not now, not when Loki's scepter was involved.

Tony walked up to Cap looking him straight in the eye and replied honestly,

"We'll lose." Good talk Stark, very uplifting.

"Then we'll do that together, too." Stark scoffed at Cap's response and turned away from the rest of us and hopped back onto his computer. Bruce and I shared an uneasy look before the scientist moved away towards another computer.

* * *

I was sitting in a chair in Stark's lab the next day, spinning around restlessly. We literally just got the scepter and now it was gone again. I felt like the hotel maid, I just cleaned this mess and now I'll have to clean it again! Can we not keep it together for more than 24 hours?

"We're getting access denied on all basic information streams." Natasha said sipping on her coffee. She was video chatting with Rhodey who was back at the army base trying to get any info on Ultron. So far, they hadn't had much luck.

"Yeah well you guys are definitely off the Pentagon's Christmas list. Every country with a nuke is fighting a cyber attack, War Machine is being deployed to the Middle East in case certain people start blaming each other instead of you." I grimaced at this revelation, things were not looking good. Also, has no one commented on the fact that Rhodey's name promotes violence, the opposite of peace? I know he's there to help keep things relatively calm between the nations, but they should've given him a friendlier name.

"Ok, well hold that thought," Tony said as he walked up to the computer screen, sticking a drive in front of the camera for Rhodey to see, "let me overnight you a new inscription drive for your suit in case Ultron wants in."

"Gotcha, thanks."

"You hear something, we need to hear it too." Nat reminded the soldier.

"Hey, that goes both ways. Watch your six." Rhodey replied.

"You too." Natasha said signing off. Thor came back into the room, he had been attempting to contact Hiemdall. If we could get some help from the all seer of Asgard that would do us a world of good.

"How'd it go?" I asked hopefully, rising from my seat to meet Thor halfway across the room.

"Hiemdall's either away from his post or he's been ordered not to answer." Thor answered in disappointment. I sighed at the set back and my shoulders sagged. We were getting nowhere very quickly.

"Ultron can't hide forever, we'll find him." Thor assured me, I gave him a tight smile and grabbed my mug off the table to take a sip of tea willing the warm liquid to cool my nerves.

"Well he's not exactly hiding." Steve said handing Thor a tablet. The Asgardian lowered it to a level where I could see it as well. I gasped at the horrific image of Strucker's deceased body with the word 'peace' ironically written in blood on the wall above his corpse.

"What's this?" Tony asked before Thor angrily thrust the handheld at Stark in disgust. The warrior was greatly disgruntled and I knew he blamed Tony for this. Rightfully so, it was his fault. And Bruce's too but at least Banner felt bad about it.

"Ultron killed Strucker." Steve notified. Stark glanced down at the picture contemplatively.

"And he did a banksy at the crime scene. Just for us." Tony commented. Banner leaned around Tony to get a better look, his face contorting with displeasure.

"This is good." Tasha apprised. One more bad guy dead, not ideal but better than nothing.

"No, that's not good." Banner denied shaking his head.

"He's showing us his hand, this isn't his pattern." Natasha explained, "Why send a message if you've just given a speech?"

"Strucker must have known something Ultron wanted us to miss." I stated, there was no other reason that made sense. Nat sat back down in her chair and typed away on the computer. She sighed in frustration.

"Yup, look everything we had on Strucker has been wiped."

"And that's good?" Bruce asked unsurely. I rolled my eyes, and the other just gave him a look.

"No, that's very not good." I told him.

"What about the enhanced kids, do we need to worry about them?"

"Twins Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, they were orphaned in Sokovia when they were ten by a bombing. They got swept up into rebel protesting and that led them to join Strucker." Maria explained quickly passing around an IPad with the Maximoffs' file pulled up.

Bruce and I looked over it together, watching a video of the twins angrily shouting at an unseen enemy. I almost didn't recognize the brunette male as the Speedy Gonzales that I met in the woods. It was hard to connect the silver hair with the dark brown, but he still had the same eyes. Both he and his sister had the same haunting eyes. The girl didn't look like as creepy as Tony had described though, she was actually very pretty.

"So they got their abilities from Loki's scepter, like Sarah?" Bruce asked. I immediately stiffened, I absolutely loathed how I came upon my abilities it was a major sore subject for me. Banner shot me an apologetic glance before guiltily looking away, I knew he had just slipped but it still put a rock in my gut every time it was brought up.

"Yeah, but not exactly. Loki was able to create an instantaneous change in Byrdie's genetic code because of his abilities with magic. But Strucker's methods were cruder and more gradual." Stark informed us as he read over the twin's file.

I stood up abruptly and left briskly for my own room. I couldn't listen anymore about Loki's scepter, I knew enough about it as is. I didn't mean to rudely walk away from them, but Loki was a subject that shouldn't be discussed with me in the room. Maybe I was just too sensitive. Glumly, I made my way to kitchen first to pick up a refill for my tea before heading down to the lower levels where our bedrooms were.

After SHIELD fell, it wasn't safe for me to live in the sanctioned living facility they had me in. So Tony opened up his tower for the team to stay in if we needed it. Which I did, so I've been helping Stark out with translating documents and I joined his company as a linguist. It wasn't much different from what I was doing at SHIELD.

The whole Ultron thing had planted an unsettling pit in my stomach and I had hoped that a couple cups of Earl Grey would make me feel better but I couldn't shake it. Hunkering down in the plush armchair seated next to the window in my room, I pulled a random book into my lap and attempted to busy my mind instead of going to bed. It was the middle of the night, practically morning but I knew I wasn't going to be able to fall asleep easily.

Sure enough, a few hours later the sun started to peak to out over the horizon and I still hadn't found any sleep and I couldn't even recall what I had just read. I changed into simple black leggings and a blue sweater, and slipping on a pair of converse I ventured out of my room back to the kitchen to see if anyone else was up and about.

Natasha and Clint were huddled around the counter speaking in hushed tones, those two were always on their own separate wave length. I wasn't super close with either one of them, back in our SHIELD days I had never even talked to them before. But I knew that they would have my back and on some level I knew that they cared about me and I them, we were a team after all, a family.

I scuffed the ground louder than normal with my shoe so they would notice my appearance into the room. The two spy's turned in my direction and moved away from one another. Tony was always trying to convince me that they were secretly together and I could definitely see it, but with those two you'd never know.

"Hey, Sarah sleep well?" Clint asked, it was then that I noticed the cup of coffee in his hand.

"Not at all, is there more of that?" Natasha tossed me an empty mug and shuffled over so I could pour a cup. I wasn't much of a coffee person, I had to load it with milk and sugar before I could get it down. But I felt like I was going to fall asleep standing so this morning it was a necessity. I didn't need to ask if they had gotten any sleep, it was apparent they didn't.

"What time is it?" Nat asked looking out the window at the sunrise. I pulled my phone out of my pocket.

"About seven." It was a little too early for conversation, we just milled around the kitchen drinking coffee and staring blearily at the rising sun. Some mornings were like this, not that an eminent threat was always hanging over our heads, but sleep was hard to come by some days. And Tony never slept but he just stayed in his lab.

We spent the next couple days searching through all our resources for a chance to catch Ultron, but as of yet we had been too late to do anything. There were reports of metal men raiding factories, something too fast to see, and workers left in a fugue state prattling on about old fears. It wasn't surprising in the least that the Maximoffs paired up with Ultron. They all shared a similar hatred for the Avengers and the enemy of my enemy is my friend or so the saying goes.

It wasn't until we came across the name Ulysses Klaw that we made any real headway. Banner had a photo of the known arms dealer displayed on the screen, but what was interesting was the rectangular brand that was burned into his neck.

"Oh yeah, it's a word in an African dialect meaning 'thief' in a much less friendly way." Bruce informed us when his database search came up positive. That made sense, he was a weapon's smuggler after all.

"What dialect?" Steve asked curiously. The guys and I had been milling around the lab waiting for a bone to be thrown in our direction that could lead us finding Ultron, and this was the closest we'd been in days.

"Wa-wakanada-wak-"

"Wakanda?" I supplied for Bruce who seemed to be struggling over the country's name.

"Yeah, that." He said embarrassingly. I didn't miss the confused look that Steve shared with Tony.

"There's only one real thing of value that he could want out of there." Stark commented.

"I thought your father said he got the last of it?"

"I'm sorry but what's coming out of Wakanda?" Bruce asked standing up from his seat.

"The strongest metal on earth." Steve replied looking solemnly at his shield. Vibranium, I realized. But why would he...?

"Why would Ultron need that?" Thor questioned beating me to the punch.

"To build a better body, Ultron talked about evolving. This would be the way to do it." Bruce filled in nodding to himself. Well crap, that's all we needed a juiced up insane mad man...robot...whatever.

"Where is Klaw now?" Steve asked moving with Bruce back towards the computer. Banner typed at the computer for a few long seconds.

"South Africa."

"Let's suit up then." Finally! Just sitting here waiting has given me cabin fever, I can't stand just doing nothing knowing that, that stupid scepter was waltzing around with a murderer, again!

Cap didn't want to waste any time so he gave us thirty minutes to get ready before we jumped on the quinjet. I ran to the kitchen, which was my favorite spot in the tower, and quickly downed a glass of water before grabbing a couple protein bars then hustling to the locker room on the floor above. Natasha was already pulling on her skin tight cat-suit when I walked in.

I opened up my locker, which was more of a wardrobe, and pulled out a clean pair of uniform pants and matching long sleeve top. Most of my uniforms looked the same, dark grey durable material with minimal dark purple accents that blended with the grey. The clothes were light enough to allow free movement and they were almost bullet proof; the extra weight would've been too restrictive if they were completely bullet proof and I can normally hold my own against guns so there was no need for it.

Silently, I laced up my black boots and pulled my blonde hair into a tight high ponytail before following the older team member out of the locker room. Natasha always wore her hair down and I had no idea how she could stand that! My hair would be attacking my face or blocking my vision if I left it untied.

The second we were all on the jet we were off to South Africa. Cap gave us our objective, stop Ultron from getting the vibranium. Simple enough it seemed, but nothing ever came easy to us. Just once I'd like a free-bee.

Ultron was already on board the ship that Klaw captained when we arrived. As stealthily as three large men and I could be, we snuck down the corridors to confront the metal man. Widow and Hawkeye hung above in the rafters ready to watch our backs should anything go wrong. And with our record, it inevitably would. Bruce stayed with the jet for back up, but also because the ship would be too small of a place for him to Hulk out.

"What? I'm not... I'm not! You think I'm one of Stark's puppets, his hollow men? I mean, look at me, do I look like Iron Man? Stark is not..." There was the sound of metal whirring and then a sickening noise that sounded like tree bark being ripped. I had to restrain myself from gasping as I looked on in horror as Ultron single handedly detached Ulysses Klaw's arm, the appendage oozing with blood.

Well we found them, I thought as my stomach churned at the gruesome sight, I would never get used to seeing stuff like that.

"I'm sorry. I am sor... Ooh! I'm sure that's going to be okay." Ultron apologized placing the severed arm into his victim's still intact hand. "I'm sorry, it's just I don't understand... Don't compare me with Stark! He's a sickness!"

"Aw junior, your gunna break your old man's heart." Stark sassed the metal giant bringing attention to our merry band. I really did not like the ship we were in now, why was it that bad guys always chose the scummiest places to hangout in? I was keeping to breathing in through my nose to try and limit the amount of dust and mold I inhaled. Anxiously, my hand brushed against my inhaler that was neatly stored in my belt. A nervous habit of mine.

Ultron's new body was enormous and impressive, if not intimidating. I can't imagine what it'll look like if he gets the vibranium. He also certainly had a lot of personality for a robot, or was he an android? I didn't really pay much attention to Bruce and Stark when they started talking science. Regardless, he was so human it was disturbing.

The Maximoffs were standing beside him, opposite of us. They looked more relaxed than I felt, so that was comforting, I thought sarcastically. I caught Pietro's eye and he had the audacity to wink at me. I scowled at him, oh sure threaten my life then flirt with me. He was so wishy-washy it was annoying.

"If I have to." Was Ultron's truthful remark.

"We don't have to break anything." Thor said in a weak attempt to stifle the animosity. Ultron scoffed and replied humorously with,

"Clearly you've never made an omelet."

"He beat me by one second." Stark informed us. I rolled my eyes, oh good Lord.

"Oh, this is funny Mr. Stark?" Pietro said walking forwards. "It's what comfortable? Like old times?" I glanced down at the missiles packed away below us that the Maximoff man was referring to, they did remind me of Stark technology.

"This was never my life." Tony replied with a slight shake of his head.

"You two can still walk away from this." Steve told the twins intervening. He was trying to protect them, I knew he saw them as kids who got caught up in the wrong crowd. Honestly, I wasn't sure what to think of them myself.

"Oh, we will." Was the accented reply from the Sokovian witch. She gave a smug, sarcastic smile and I frowned at her statement, that didn't sound good at all.

"I know you've suffered-"

"Bahhhh!" Ultron gagged before laughing, "Captain America, God's righteous man. Pretending you could live without war, I can't physically throw up in my mouth but-"

"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it." Thor said cutting off the robot.

"You're confusing peace, with quiet." Ultron replied talking a threatening step closer. I brought a barrier in front of him defensively to keep him at bay. It got the job done and prevented him from moving closer.

"And you're confusing saving the world, with destroying it." I remarked.

"Ah, the baby Avenger, I almost forgot about you!" Gee thanks, I thought sarcastically. "I'm told you can speak seven different languages. Even a little Sokovian!" He laughed a little at this and nudged Pietro will his metal elbow, prodding him more forcefully than a normal person would causing the silver haired main to stumble slightly.

"I could use a human translator, will ya help me out? It'll sound more genuine coming from a person." The sentient robot sounded so cheerful almost chipper, I wondered if he could actually feel any emotions and if not, where was he getting all of this personality? And did he really just ask me to join him? He tried to kill me a couple nights before! I pushed down the heat that I felt rising to my cheeks when those present glanced at me to see my reaction. I made sure to keep my face as composed as one could when asked by a crazy murder bot to join up with him, but an unbelieving laugh worked its way out of my mouth.

"No thank you, you can always use Google translate." I replied as pleasantly as possible with a tight smile, no need to set off an unstable robot, even if he was off his rocker. I had wanted to repeat his line about throwing up, but decided against the antagonistic remark. Ultron laughed at this and comically slapped his hand over his knee, clearly he had been surfing the web for 'appropriate' human responses.

"Well look at that Stark, at least someone on your team knows how to use their 'please' and 'thank yous'!" Ultron responded brushing off my refusal. I'm glad he found the situation humorous, I thought blandly.

"Oh it's not my team, it's Cap's. I just pay for everything and make everyone look cool." Tony joked, his voice coming out mechanical because of the suit. I shot him a disapproving glare, now was not the time to be bating the bad guy. "What's the vibranium for?"

"I'm glad you asked that because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan." Using some magnetic beam, Ultron grabbed hold of Tony's Iron Man suit and yanked him closer before blasting him in the chest. Stark crashed into the doors behind but recovered quickly as flew at Ultron. The two metal men took to the air.

A few other robots jumped down onto the platform we were standing on, scaring the crap out me because I had no idea that they were up there. I blasted one over of the side of the railing and moved to cover Steve and Thor, but instead I found myself suddenly pushed up against the railing.

"Fancy seeing you here." Pietro joked holding both of my hands back with only one of his. I rolled my eyes and gave a huff in frustration. This situation was apparently becoming a common occurrence.

"Oh yeah, you come here often?" I muttered blandly, getting a low chuckle from the enhanced Sokovian. I got a whiff of butterscotch and craned my neck to look back at him. I narrowed my eyes and hissed,

"Are you eating candy?" The Sokovian grinned and pulled a neatly wrapped piece of hard candy from his pant pocket.

"Yes, would you like some?" I just stared at him disbelievingly.

"I don't take candy from strangers."

"Ah but we are not strangers," He insisted, leaning in closer, "not when we are standing here in such a familiar position." If it was possible, my jaw would have dropped to the floor. Did he ever stop flirting? No, of course he did, when he was being all intimidating and demanding.

I went to argue with him but there was a shout overhead and gunshots as men joined in the fight above us. I grimaced as Steve was flipped over the side of the guard rail, but he skillfully landed on his feet. A robot burst through the doors next to us and shoved his weapon in my face. I scowled at him, silently murdering him in my mind. I have this thing where I don't like weapons being pointed at my face.

"You need help?" Was the question that came out of the sentinel's voice box and it creepily sounded just like Ultron. Pietro tightened his grip on my arms and smirked,

"No, I've got this handled." I could hear the cockiness in his voice, I didn't even need to see his face. He was getting on my nerves. The robot nodded and rushed in the opposite direction, presumably to go find someone else to intimidate.

"You know, I don't need my hands to use my abilities." I told him before I pushed a burst of energy at him, effectively throwing him off of me. He was momentarily distracted as I left some residue energy to circle around his eyes, prodding him backwards. I used the opportunity to run to Tony who was currently fighting with Ultron. I felt pretty useless in an offensive manor, but defense was my strong suit.

Ultron deflected Stark easily and threw him to the ground, but before he could get a chance to land a detrimental blow I released a pulse of opaque energy that diverted Ultron's hit. Stark sprung up and upper cutted the robot with a blast from his gauntlet. Natasha moved stealthily around him in an attempt to swing a surprise attack, but the Maximoff girl let loose a bullet of red energy and caught Nat off guard. I cursed myself for being too slow to recognize the danger.

The spy swiftly rebounded and spun around guns ready, but in a blue blur her guns and Wanda had disappeared. Nat looked put off, but she stood readily grabbing her extra weapons. I was really starting to hate that guy.

"You good?" I asked her, receiving a nod in response from the older red head. I coughed a little, trying to expel the debris sticking in my throat. Come it keep it together Byrd.

I saw Thor throw his hammer out of the corner of my eye and watched as Pietro latched onto to it and got himself thrown into a wall. Dumbass, I thought to myself grinning.

"I saw Barton follow some guys down stairs a while ago, can you go check on him? He's an old man, I'm worried he's fallen and can't get up." Natasha asked me, I nodded in agreement and hopped over the platform using my expanded field of energy to soften my fall.

I walked around the corridors trying to catch a glimpse of the elusive archer but Clint wasn't down here like Natasha suggested, I think I went down too far. Glancing up I sighed at the trek I'd have to make back upstairs.

"Lower floors are clear." I said into the radio. When I got nothing in response I tried again, "Nothing on the lower floor, anyone copy?...Guys?" My heart sped up, the silence was not a good sign. Not at all. I made the decision to hurry back up, but was stopped when two men jumped out from behind a wall of crates. They were loaded with heavy weapons and both were pointed at me.

I frowned and drew my energy closer to my body, ready for anything. The two men wore hard expressions and had on grimy clothes, I could tell they had been in this place for a while. It wasn't difficult to block the rain of bullets, it was more annoying than anything. I wondered how I was going to do this, wait for them to run out of ammo or disable them now? It made me nervous using my abilities on normal humans, one wrong flick up my wrist and it could go horribly wrong.

It took almost no time at all for the men to figure out that shooting at me was getting them nowhere so they shifted their aim. One continued his assault on my barrier but the other turned his attention to the fixtures hanging above us. My eyes widened when I realized that it that thing fell it would land on not only me but them as well.

"Stop! Stop, die es vor sich geht, fallen!" I yelled in German to Klaw's men, hoping they would get the message. It was useless though, they couldn't hear me over the gunfire. I charge forward just as the metal fixture came loose and crashed down on us, I had just enough time to push the men safely out of the way and cloak them in energy. But it was more difficult to pay attention to them and shield myself simultaneously.

I was able to bring forth enough energy to not be completely crushed under the weight of the metal beams but my lower half was effectively trapped underneath. Well that was productive, at least the bad guys were able to safely runaway and leave me here.

A cough rose up in my chest and replaced the irritation with panic. The fallen beams had stirred up a bunch of dust and it was causing a painful clenching in my chest and throat. No, no, no, no, no, no this couldn't be happening now! I tried to sit up to alleviate some of the stress on my lungs by the way I was situated I couldn't. I attempted to suck in deeper breathes but I could feel my airway constricting, cutting off my oxygen supply. Frantically I grabbed for the inhaler strapped to my side, only to find my belt had been ripped off and was laying a few feet away.

I raised a hand and tried to gather enough energy to move the beams off my legs but I couldn't concentrate enough. It was getting harder and harder to breath, I put my shirt up around my mouth in an attempt to breath in cleaner air, but it didn't matter. Tears stung the corner of my eyes and I struggled to suck in air, each inhalation sounded high pitched and strangled. My com had been injured in the fall and I couldn't get the distress button to work. No one was coming for me.

This is it, I'm gunna die at the bottom of a disgusting ship. My panic was all consuming, I could barely conjure up a visible wisp of energy in my pathetic attempts to break free.

"You are very clumsy for Avenger." Pietro called out, the ever present smirk in voice. I replied with a sharp inhale and placed a hand to my throat. I couldn't see him, but I could feel him behind me. My breathing was speeding up and the noise I made sounded almost like a whistle.

"What is going on?" He asked in a surprisingly concerned tone. Maybe he would finish me off before I could suffer for long. I just wished he would leave, I didn't want to die in front of the enemy, not like this. But on the other hand, I certainly didn't want to die alone. I wasn't able to answer him, I just stared at him with tears running down my cheeks. My lungs burned with each cough and there were black spots popping up in my vision.

He asked me again in a more frantic voice but all I could do was wave my medical bracelet in his direction, hoping he'd understand. I wasn't even sure if he could read English. I wore a bracelet at all times, I had to. Although the one I wore when doing Avengers' work lacked any color other than the silver material so that it wasn't as noticeable.

He cautiously came closer and gently took hold of my wrist staring at the writing. Please understand, _please_ understand. I begged in my mind. I wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer, I could feel the hypoxia setting in, it felt like a full grown elephant was sitting on my chest. Pietro murmured something under his breath in Sokovian, but I was too tired to attempt to translate.

"Asthma, yes? This is the problem?" I gave a weak nod, "Where is your medicine, you keep it with you?" using what little strength I had left, I gestured to the pack laying a few paces away. Instantly, Pietro had the inhaler uncapped and lifted it towards my mouth, I could barely lift my hand to grab it from him. He had to help me push the top down because my hands were shaking too badly, if I wasn't currently in the process of dying this would be the most embarrassing moment of my life.

I struggled to inhale the mist, the first time though I was only able to get a small amount through my restricted airways. It did the job though, it relieved it enough for the second breath to reach all the way to my bronchioles. I gasped when I was finally able to breathe in deeply, I felt my whole body shaking.

Pietro had a terrified expression plastered onto his face, I had never seen someone so worried about a stranger before. It wasn't until I began coughing again that I realize he had a hand on my back keeping me upright. He frowned when I continued to cough, but there was still dust flying all around us and the medicine helped but it was a quick fix.

"The…dust…" I wheezed out squeezing my eye shut in distress making tears stream down my cheeks. My body shuddering at the strain of coughing so much. I cringed at the sound, it was like I was an old smoker. Pietro looked over at the bars trapping my legs and flashed over to them. I groaned as I was forced to hold myself up now, so I laid back down unable to do so.

I watched as he used his back to push the beam up, giving me enough room to wriggle out from underneath, which was no easy feat at the time being. The second I was clear, the room blurred and I felt a hand holding me head against something solid and then I set down on the grass outside. The world spun for a moment and my weakened body lurched sideways at the vertigo feeling.

"It will take moment for you to get used to that." Pietro informed me, I nodded slowly taking the time to suck in deep, clear breathes. I closed my eyes once more and just focused on breathing. If he was going to kill me, he would have already, that much was obvious. To his credit, he stood next to me and didn't say anything, my guess was that he didn't know what to say. I sure didn't.

When I could work up the courage, I opened my eyes and slowly met his blue ones. They were filled with concern and something else that I couldn't place. He looked like he was expecting me to have another attack or fall dead right there. I wiped away the tears from my face and took a shaky but steading breath.

"Um, thank you…for that." I rasped awkwardly, unsure if it was appropriate to thank the enemy. "You didn't have to do that." I finished quietly. His expression soften as he gazed at me.

"I was not going to let you die." He stated firmly, as if there was no other option. A bad guy with a conscious? That's new. A look of confusion moved over his face. "Why do you fight, it is very dangerous for you." He continued. I scoffed lightly at this.

"Why do you? It's still dangerous. I figure if I have these gifts, why shouldn't I help people if I can?" I managed to get out slowly. It felt weird talking about this with him, especially since he was staring at me so intently. It was unnerving, like he was trying to see my soul through my eyes. It was making me self-conscious. I could only imagine what he was looking at. Grimy skin, frizzy hair, puffy eyes and red cheeks. Nice.

"You should not go back in," He stated, nodding his head as if he was agreeing with himself, "you should sit this one out." Annoyance flared up in me, who was he to tell me what to do!

"If my team needs me, I'm going back in." I rebuked, to my embarrassment my statement was capped off with a residual cough, taking away from the fierceness in my comment. Pietro frowned and shook his head.

"Our goal is not to kill anyone," yet, I added darkly in my head, "you stay out here for now." I opened my mouth to argue but once again I was traveling at an unimaginable speed. Seriously, this manhandling was getting old, really fast. Before I could protest, the Maximoff had me strapped into one of our jets' seats and he had broken the buckle, disabling me from getting out.

"I just saved your life, do not make save you again." He added with a smirk. He was too cute for his own good when he did that. It was distracting and infuriating at the same time. Mostly annoying though. He was gone before I could get any more say in the matter.

I groaned and relaxed back in the chair, the effects of my asthma attack were wearing down on me. I felt so tired, but so useless at not being able to get up and help. Bruce must have heard the commotion because he poked his head back into the quinjet from the loading bay.

"Sarah? What are you doing? How did you get in here?"

"Maximoff." I stated, as if no more of an explanation was needed. Bruce nodded and made his way over to me.

"Need help with that?" He asked gesturing to how I was uselessly trying to break out of the seat belt. I sighed and told him 'yes'. The scientist moved around the jet and secured a pair of industrial scissors and proceeded to cut me out.

"So, why exactly did the Maximoff kid run you out here and strap you down?" I shrugged, hoping to play off the reality of the situation.

"I guess I was getting in his way." Bruce didn't press any further, either not thinking much of it, or just noticing how scratchy my voice was and run down I looked and not wanting to push me.

"Is everyone alright down there, no one's been one the radio for a while?" Banner asked once I had been freed. I reached into one of the cupboard and pulled out an extra belt to stow away my inhaler that I had clutched tightly in my hand.

"Not sure, I didn't get a chance to see anyone on the way out." Pietro had said that their goal wasn't to kill anyone, but that didn't mean accidents couldn't happen. I wanted to go back in and help my team, but there was a seed of fear in my mind that if I did, I would have another episode. My body was still shaking from the strain.

The two of us walked outside to watch the ship and wait for something to happen. Bruce normally hated being brought on missions where he could potentially transform, but we needed him as per usual. I knew he was perfectly content just waiting out here though.

"So…" He started, dragging out the word, "everything alright with you?" He questioned awkwardly, Bruce was never really one for emotions and feelings, but I know he cares about the rest of us. I shot him a small smile to reassure him as I placed a new com in my ear.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. It's just one of those day- Bruce look out!" I cut myself off mid-sentence as Wanda spontaneously appeared right behind Banner. I was really out of it if I didn't notice her coming! I shot my right hand forward to protect Bruce from the red mist that was spiraled around the Maximoff girl's fingers but my arms were quickly wrenched behind my back in an uncomfortable position. I spun around to find Pietro standing behind me, keeping my arms close to his body so I couldn't move away. A look of accusation passed over my features but he passively glanced down at me like nothing had happened.

I turned back towards Bruce, but we had been too late. A red hue had taken over his normally brown eyes and the weird red mist was hanging around him. He clutched his head and stumbled away from the girl.

"Bruce! Fight it! Don't let him take control!" I pleaded, tugging against Pietro's hold vainly. Bruce caught my eye once, his eyes were scared, he was scared. I gasped as he turned away and exploded in a mass of green.

"Bruce!" I yelled fearfully. The Hulk roared angrily and grabbed at his head once more. At this point Pietro had let go of my arm and took a couple wary steps back. I did the opposite and took a step forward and put my hands out in an unintimidating manner.

"Bruce, listen to me you have to-" The Hulk leaned forward towards me and roared dangerously at me. Startled, I sped back a couple feet. And with that, he leaped into the air in the direction of the nearby city.

"Oh my God." I whispered horrified, there were people in that town! And he could destroy them!

"Are you out of your damn mind?" I yelled at Wanda furiously, coughing at the rough use of my voice. She glared at me and extended a glowing red hand.

"No, but you will be soon." Angrily, and with more gumption that I usually do, I threw a wall of energy at her causing her to fly back on impact. She released a surprised shout, but her brother caught her before she landed on the ground. He sent me a pissed off glare that I could have cared less about at the moment.

"This is Byrd to team, anyone copy?" I shouted into my newly acquired com.

"I copy." Tony responded. Thank God!

"The Hulk has been released and is headed east to the town. I'm in pursuit." I informed him before turning away from the twins and running after the path of destruction the Hulk had left.

"What? I'm on my way, do not engage Sarah." I ignored Stark and continued on, only to smack in to the chest of the Maximoff man.

"Ow." I grumbled as I rubbed my sore nose and stepping away from him suspiciously.

"Where are you going?" He asked in a demanding voice.

"To go help." I stated bluntly.

"I am sure your friend will be fine." Wanda said in a disgusted tone, I looked back at her and sent her a withering glare.

"I'm sure he will, but I'm more worried about the people in that city that he's about to destroy." Were they being serious right now? I did not have time or energy for their crap.

"That will be dangerous." Pietro stated. I stared at him unbelievingly, my jaw dropped. This coming from the guy who attacked me in the woods and just sent a giant rage monster to level a town.

"You've got to be kidding me," I sighed in exasperation, "I don't have time for this! If you didn't want a dangerous situation, then you should have thought your dumb ass plan through!" I yelled pushing past the stunned runner and stifling the cough that was working its way up. Those two were unbelievable, truly! It was ridiculous! Maddening even.

They didn't follow me any further as I rushed after Banner. It wasn't difficult at all to locate him, just follow the path of fallen trees and destroyed buildings. I still wasn't recovered from my attack, but I would deal with the consequences later.

There were screaming civilians running around, pushing one another to get out of the Hulk's war path. The green monster was about to destroy a building so I shot a stream of energy at him, careful to avoid any civilians. The globe of energy shattered on the Hulk's back, efficiently shifting his focus on me. He let out an angry growl and charged at me.

"Shit." I muttered under my breath, steeling up the courage to take on the Hulk. Alone. Wow I really should have thought this through better. The green giant launched himself at me and with a battle cry he slammed down on the thick shield that I put up around myself. The force of his landing buried me into the ground a few feet, the earth cracked under my black boots. I grunted at the impact but the shield held up just fine.

Hulk wasn't satisfied with just one hit, he continually smashed his fists into the nearly clear barrier. I strained as I felt the resolve in my shield beginning to break. With a burst of energy I wasn't aware I still had I expanded the dome quickly and forced the Hulk far back enough so that I had the chance to run away. We had to get out of the city and away from all these people.

"Tony where are you?" I yelled tiredly over the radio. Ducking to avoid a car thrown at me, I threw myself to the ground, tucking into a roll before jumping back onto my feet. A couple stray coughs worked its way through my weary lungs and I struggled to bite back my panic.

"Right behind you kid, hold on!" I sighed in relief and continued leading the Hulk away from the populated area. I felt like Shaggy and Scooby acting as the bait for the fake lake monster. A cart smashed down right in front of me, in a hurry to avoid it, I tried to back pedal but ended up tripping and falling on my butt. Shit.

Turning back I saw Hulk was already directly behind me, snarling and looking quit terrifying. On impulse I wrapped a bubble of energy around his head, hoping that I could maintain it long enough to make him pass out. He looked stunned for a moment, like he wasn't sure what to do. Then he started punching his fist onto the bubble hard as he could. I almost laughed at this.

I stood up and kept my hold on the globe around his head, praying that Tony would hurry up and get here. Hulk was stumbling around now, globs of spit were sticking to the energy bubble as he yelled in distress. I had to move back a couple steps as he staggered in my direction.

"Come on Banner, pass out already." I said under my breath. Some of the townspeople were peeking out of windows and doorways, thankfully many of them had taken shelter inside. A woman's scream took my attention away from the Hulk momentarily. Big mistake. He took advantage of my distraction and landed a solid kick in my abdomen.

Pain exploded and burst from my stomach, and I unintentionally dropped the energy around his head, freeing him. I crashed hard into the side of a building, all the air rushed from lungs and my head cracked against the concreted. I was out before I hit the ground.

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 **Thanks for reading! Please review! I will update as soon as possible.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello all! Sorry for taking so long to update I've had a lot of school work and life got in the way. But I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please review guys!**

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Coming too was the most painful awakening I've experienced to date. It was abrupt and startling and entirely unpleasant. With a large gasp I instinctively sat up, only to fall back down when the tightness in my abdomen caused me to collapse. A cry escaped my lips at the horrible sensation. My head only had a dull ache, not enough for a concussion so that was something.

"Hey kiddo, you awake?" Peeling my green eyes open slowly they took a moment to focus in the bright light before they settled on an unarmored Tony who was seated on the jet a few feet away.

"Yeah." I croaked trying to rotate towards him to get a better view. When I groaned again, he moved forward pushing me back on the cot.

"How bout you stay there for now? Ok?" He said giving me a quick smile before patting my head lightly. I frowned at this, but didn't make another attempt to get up. There was too much pain for me to help myself up anyway.

"Did everyone make it out?" I asked grimacing at the roughness in my voice. I could kind of see Natasha out of the corner of my eye and she looked ok, but out of it for sure. An image of the Maximoff girl came to the front of my mind and I scowled. How can one person cause so much damage? Tony's face flashed with anger briefly and he leaned back in his seat, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, but not without injury." I glanced around at Steve, Thor and finally at Bruce. My heart broke, they all looked so defeated. I was used to seeing that worn down expression on Bruce, but everyone was wearing it now.

"You got lucky Byrdie, you slept practically the whole way." Clint commented from the pilot's seat. More like I was unconscious the whole way, but I didn't say that out loud. Not in front of Bruce. "We're almost there."

"Almost where?" I asked automatically.

"A safe house." Nodding in acknowledgement I let the subject drop and we fell silent. Clint was right, almost 25 minutes later we were landing in some random field in the middle of nowhere. Steve walked over to where I was and gave me a look, asking for his permission. I gave him a short nod and he wrapped a thick arm around my lithe shoulders and with the other he held my right arm.

Gently he helped me into a seated position before pulling me onto my feet. A grunt moved out of my mouth and I blew a baited breath from behind my teeth as I straightened up. I had to stay hunched over slightly to relieve the ache in my stomach.

"Thanks." I gritted out and we awkwardly hobbled off the jet. I knew he'd rather carry me, it'd be faster, but I think he realized that I wanted to walk it off. That and we both knew that if he had to carry me in, the guilt Bruce was feeling would only increase.

Clint was guiding Nat ahead of us as he walked towards a quaint country home, it was a good size with a nice large front yard and wooden fences surrounding it. There was even a barn off to the side. It reminded me of little house on the prairie. We were in America right?

"What is this place?" Thor queried directing his question at Tony.

"A safe house." Stark replied as if he wasn't quit convinced yet.

"Let's hope." Barton commented opening up the door and leading Natasha in. Steve took on most of my weight as we walked up the stair behind the rest of the group. It looked like a normal house on the inside, not what I'd except from a spy's secret hideaway. Cap and I shared a confused look, he shrugged and we continued on in.

"Honey?" Clint called out, walking into a dining room. Was he calling out for another agent? "I'm home." A beautiful women stepped out from the kitchen then, the first thing I noticed was that she was heavily pregnant. Maybe that was why she was at a safe house because she couldn't be in the field?

"I have company, sorry I didn't call ahead." Clint continued as the two walked closer together. The woman smiled and to my surprise she approach Hawkeye and kissed him. My jaw fell open slightly and I immediately shut it. Oh ok, so….ok then.

"This is an agent of some kind." Tony remarked, mild shock on his features.

"Gentlemen," Clint said, the both of them turning our way, "and Sarah. This is Laura." Laura smiled nervously and waved. It's his wife! Or girlfriend at least. Nope, it's his wife I can see the ring.

"I know all your names." She gave an awkward laugh that made me smile. Tony, not knowing how to react shot her a wave as well. The sound of footsteps pounding on the floor started up behind us and I turned.

"Oh, incoming." Clint informed us with a warm smile, lowering himself down as an adorable little brunette girl in pigtails and a yellow jacket came running in, with an older boy about ten right behind her. Clint swooped her up in a hug and wrapped an arm around the boy.

"Dad!" The little girl shouted gleefully. He has children?!

"Hi sweetheart, hey buddy." He added ruffling the boy brown hair. "How you guys doing?" The looks of confusion on my teammates faces were priceless, given I never would have expected Clint to have a family but it made me feel warm and fuzzy all the same.

"These are…smaller agents." Tony said, still dumbfounded.

"Look at your face. Oh my," Clint kissed his daughters forehead, "goodness."

"Did you bring Auntie Nat?" The girl asked in a sweet voice as Clint set her back down. Natasha moved forward with a smile and opened up her arms.

"Why don't you hug her and find out?" She said saucily. Of course Natasha knew about them. It was odd watching the Black Widow picking up a six year old and hugging her. It was cute for sure, just odd.

"Sorry for barging in on you." Steve said politely, speaking to Laura. Stark crossed his arms over his chest and sassily added,

"Yeah we would have called ahead but we were busy having no idea that you existed." I glared at him, but he ignored me. Unfazed, Clint slung his arms over Laura and his sons shoulders and replied with,

"Yeah well, Fury help me set this up when I joined and kept it off Shield's files, and I'd like to keep it that way." He said pointedly. "I figured it's a good place to lay low." There was a crunching noise and I sighed as I saw that Thor had crushed a lego house. He looked up guilty like a deer caught in headlights and slowly backed away from the destroyed house.

"How's little Natasha?" Nat asked taking the attention away from Thor who was quickly pushing the legos under the ottoman, giving Steve and I looked telling us to keep quiet. I smirked at him but said nothing.

"She's…a Nathaniel." Laura said scrunching her face up so she wouldn't get caught smiling. The grin dropped off Nat's face and she lowered herself to the baby bump's level.

"Traitor." She muttered jokingly.

"Alright so the kid's bedrooms are upstairs but they can squeeze into Cooper's room. You guys can use Lila's room if you want, and there are three other bedrooms down here. Showers all work, turn right for hot, left for cold. Yada, yada you know how it goes." Clint informed us ignoring Thor and Steve rushing out the front door, "And please try not to break anything, I like the house the way it is."

"I could do with a new kitchen." Laura sassed, Clint laughed and kissed her cheek. I glanced out the window just in time to watch Thor fly off. Where was he going? To see Jane?

"I know, I know. I'll get to it." Clint conceded walking off into the aforementioned area. "I just got through the door, give me minute woman." I smiled as the couple gripped at each other. It was adorable and I could tell that Tony was planning to use this ooey gooey form of Barton against him.

Bruce wandered upstairs mentioning that he was going to take a shower. My own clothes were disgusting and my hair was a matted mess. I would have to figure out a way to beat the others to the shower after Bruce.

At a snail's pace I made my way to the kitchen, wondering if Steve was going to come back inside anytime soon. I leaned against the kitchen counter and watched Clint pull out sandwich supplies.

"You want something to eat?" He asked stuffing his mouth with doritos. I grimaced at the thought of eating anything. My stomach was pulsating now with pain and I yearned for Dr. Cho's portable cradle. I wasn't sure if that thing could work on internal bruising but it was worth a shot.

"I don't think I could hold it down. Do you have any icy hot?"

"Of course, there's some upstairs. I'll go get it." Laura replied with a smile placing her hand over her enlarged belly.

"No, I got it hun. You stay here." He kissed her cheek and hustled out of the room and up the stairs. "Be right back!" He shouted. Laura smiled at his disappearing figure and waddled over to the fridge.

"Here, this always makes me feel better." Laura said handing me a Capri sun. I grinned and popped the straw into the pocket.

"Thanks." I chuckled sipping at the sweet contents. Laura smiled and lowered herself down into a chair. We sat in silence for a couple heartbeats before the questions started.

"Soooooo, you're an Avenger." Mrs. Barton stated.

"I am." I confirmed messing with the yellow straw, wondering where this was going.

"What's it like?" She asked excitedly, resting her head in the palm of her hand.

"I don't know, I mean I'm sure Clint and Natasha have filled you in." I replied unsure of what she wanted me to say. I couldn't imagine that my short time as a 'superhero' would be as exciting as any of the stuff the older agents have done.

"Yeah, but they live and breathe this stuff. You were normal before all this." Laura dismissed.

"Hey, I'm normal now!" I laughed getting Laura to chuckle with me.

"I don't know it's stressful to say the least, and I'm constantly terrified of everything if that's what you're asking." The woman shrugged and had a thoughtful look.

"I think it's natural to feel that way. You're not a soldier or a warrior or spy like the rest of them."

"Tony's not any of those and he does just fine." I pointed out.

"True, but who wants to be like him?" She joked. I laughed at this but stopped suddenly when my stomach gave a painful lurch. I rubbed the tender area and frowned.

"You're not pregnant too right?" Laura teased. I grinned and rolled my eyes.

"If I was, you'd be the first to know. But no, I got kicked by the Hulk." I corrected with a pain expression.

"Oooo yeah you look kinda rough." Laura acknowledge scrunching up her nose sympathetically, I stuck my tongue at her childishly. "Ah. Oh hey here we are." Mrs. Barton said as Clint reappeared in the kitchen.

"I brought some clothes too, hope you don't mind Laura." Clint said waving a pair of yoga pants and a red t-shirt along with a tube of icy-hot. "You might want to use the downstairs shower though, Bruce and Nat are 'talking'." My face contorted in disgust.

"Ew. I didn't need to know that." I replied grossed out.

"That's why I warned you, you're welcome." Clint retorted resuming his mission of making a sandwich. I glanced around and noticed that the other Avengers had meandered off leaving the house more quiet than one would think a place jammed packed with super heroes would be.

"Clint, can I ask you something personal?" I queried. There was something that had been bugging me since we got here. The agent paused in what he was doing; Barton and personal weren't a very good combo. I mean we didn't even know about his family until today, I had just assumed he and Nat had a thing.

"Uh, it depends. You asking for my social?" He chirped mildly. I gave a short laugh and shook my head no.

"I don't think it's something you'll like."

"But you're gunna ask anyway." Barton sighed, "Well come on then kid, no need to beat around the bush." I frowned and nervously played with my uniform sleeve.

"Ok, um, so um," I fumbled nervously, I knew he was going to hate my question but I was suddenly so worried that I wouldn't like the answer, "Ok so when you were under Loki's control you said he made you tell him everything." Clint's expression darkened as he understood where I was going with this. "Did he know about your family?" Clint looked unsettled and I felt bad for even mentioning it, I was about to tell him he didn't have to answer that but he beat me to it.

"Yeah, he knew. But he never threatened them, he didn't have to because I was in complete compliance with him." Barton shrugged nonchalantly, but the way he was squeezing Laura's hand I knew the situation weighed heavily on him.

"And when I finally came to my senses, he had bigger fish to fry," The archer gave a short laugh, "Guess we should give him a sticker for not being as big of a dick as he could've been." Laura and I didn't laugh with him. Clint and I had a shared similar sense of grievance when it came to the God of Mischief.

"I'm sorry." Was the only thing I think of to say. Clint shrugged and took a huge bite out of PB&J dismissing my worries.

"It's over now anyway, Loki's dead." Barton reminded me, but I couldn't tell if he was trying to convince me it was done with or himself. Thor's brother was the one who forced my abilities on me, before New York Loki had come to me as a friend. He had posed himself as my neighbor named Luke while I was still studying to be a linguist during college.

He gained the trust of my 18 year old self, made me believe we were that we were something we apparent were not. I wouldn't say I was in love with him because I wasn't, our relationship wasn't like that. But I had valued him as my confidant, my best friend. But it turned out that I was just his in to SHIELD, and an experiment he wished to exploit.

I knew him for about a year and a half, he wasn't always there though because for his 'job' he traveled a lot. And in hindsight I think that most of the time the Luke I was seeing was just a conjured up image that wasn't even the real deal.

It was roughly five months before the Battle of New York when 'Luke' came back from a three month business trip. That was the longest period of time I had gone without seeing him. So he took me out under the pretense of catching up at dinner, but one second we were walking down the street and the next I was transported to some underground base.

This was my first encounter with what I call the Avenger's World or the world of crazy that Barton calls it. To make a long and extremely depressing story short, 'Luke', well at this point he told me exactly who he was, used that stupid scepter to bestow me my gifts. The process was incredibly fast and any pain that I felt was gone with the flash of brilliant blue light that Loki shot me with. He told me I was a trial run, and he kept alluding that something big was coming. I didn't figure out what that was though until Coulson called me in a few months later.

Loki suppressed my memories of what actually happened for a while, so in those five months I went about my life like nothing had changed between us with the exception that I miraculously had newfound powers. I think the asshole took pleasure in my fear and panic, he was the only one I told outside of SHIELD so you can imagine the kind of things I confessed to him. All the while he knew exactly what was going on because he was the one who did it to me!

So imagine my shock when Loki makes his glorious appearance on Earth and shouts his claims to take over the planet and all my memories of who Luke is comes crashing down around me. I don't like to go too far into it, but the overwhelming amount of betrayal and paralyzing fear was enough to make me join the Avengers.

I still have nightmares about the ordeal, not as often but enough to keep the memories at the back of my mind every time I use my abilities. So even with everyone reminding me that Loki's dead isn't comforting in the slightest because my memories are very much alive.

"Yeah." I mumbled to Clint hefting myself onto my feet, wincing at the pain in my stomach. "I'm gunna go take a shower."

"Pain meds should be above the sink." I nodded at Laura's remark and shuffled out of the kitchen.

Finding my way to the first bedroom I just wanted to flop onto the quilted bed and sleep for days. Not wanting to waste any time, or energy, I headed into the bathroom and started up the shower. Slowly, I unbuckled my boots fighting back a groan when I had to lean over to take them off. I knew that if I was this sore today it would be much worse in the morning.

When I got the rest of my uniform peeled off I could see the beginnings of the mottling skin that took up most of my lower torso. It didn't look too bad yet just red and angry. What looked worse were the deep dark circles surrounding my eyes, I'm sure some of it had to do with smudged mascara and dirt but the exhaustion was obvious.

I hadn't had an asthma attack in a while so it me harder than it usually did. That and getting tossed around by the Hulk certainly didn't help. How am I not dead? Today had all the odds stacked against me and yet I'm still kicking. Barely. Join the Avengers they said, it'll be fun they said.

As I carefully took my hair down from the destroyed ponytail that I put it in earlier that day, my mind drifted to Pietro Maximoff. He had saved my life, but why? His ill feelings towards the Avengers were perfectly clear so why did he help me? _I was not going to let you die._ Was what he said, but that made no sense. He was working with Ultron and the metal monster told us that the goal was to exterminate us, not kill, _exterminate._

With a sigh I pushed the enigmatic Sokovian from my mind and tried not to think about the terrified expression that he held in his striking blue eyes when he found me under the pillars. My shower took longer than I wanted, it was difficult to work the tangles out of my hair and scrub all the grime off when my abdomen kept spasming painfully every couple minutes. But once I got through it, I lathered my stomach in icy-hot, popped a couple pain killers, and shrugged on the clothes Clint lent me before curling up into the softest bed I'd ever laid in and promptly falling into a dreamless sleep.

Later that night Steve woke me up for dinner and now we were were milling around the kitchen. The Barton kids had already gone to bed and someone had let it slip to the munchkins that I knew all the words to every Disney song, so I had spent the past thirty minutes holed up in Lila's room reliving my childhood playlist. She was an adorable kid, nice singing voice, but after the fifth rendition of 'Let it Go' the novelty wore off. Clint named me his kids' new baby sitter. Yaaaaayyyy.

I was sitting at the dinner table across from Nat absentmindedly spooning coco puffs in to my mouth. My stomach had relaxed enough for me to get something into it and I'll admit I have the food palate of a five year old.

Fury had shown up, that was a shock. I knew he hadn't died like the world was led on to believe but I sure as hell never expected him to show up here. But when did the one-eyed agent ever not do anything dramatic and surprising? He had us all gathered in the kitchen listening to old war stories and not that I didn't find it interesting, the former SHIELD director had yet to inform us why he was here. Apparently I wasn't the only one on this train of thought.

"Good times boss, but when I saw you I had hoped you'd have more than that." Natasha's voice was restrained more than usually, it lacked her normal spit fire attitude. It was clear that we were all still dealing with the aftermath of the twins. It pained me to my normally strong and cool-as-a-cucumber team member so bent out of whack. I knew of Natasha's dark past so I can't even imagine the kinds of things she relieved.

"Well I do." Fury defended, taking a swig of beer. "I have you." Nat and I shared a skeptical look, if that was all he was banking on right now this was going to be a shit show. None of us were completely fit for combat at the moment.

"Back in the day I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream of. And here we all are back on earth with our wit and our wills to save the world." The one eyed man walked closer to the table, taking a step purposefully with each word.

"Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission and whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction." I set my spoon down quietly on the table, taking in what the older spy was saying.

"All of this, laid in a grave. So stand, and outwit the platinum bastard." Fury took the seat next to me and based me a bread roll. I took it and nibbled on it slowly, contemplating what we were supposed to do.

"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk." Natasha commented, breaking the heaviness with some humor. I gave a quiet chuckle glanced up to see Nat smirking.

"You know what Romanoff." Steve said good naturedly, crossing his arms over his thick chest.

"So what does he want?" Fury asked.

"Peace in our time apparently." I replied blandly.

"But how? How is getting there?" Tony asked from the doorway. I shrugged, hell if I knew.

"He'll become better. Better than us." Steve stated, I nodded. It made sense, if you're gunna take over the world you'll to be able to beat whoever is defending it.

"He keeps building bodies." I added thinking about the robots he had with him on the ship.

"Person bodies." Tony corrected, "The human form is efficient, biologically saying."

"And you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed." Natasha told them snidely. Ultron said that we didn't know the different between peace and quiet, but he couldn't see the difference between protection and extinction.

"They don't need to be protected." Bruce interjected. He was standing by Nat, looking down at a yellow butterfly drawing that Clint's daughter had made earlier in the evening. "They need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve." Banner said in realization.

We wasted no time in stringing together a makeshift plan. Tony was to go to NEXUS and find a way to keep Ultron out of the computers and internet. Hopefully this would prevent the deranged robot from taking over any nuclear codes. And Steve, Nat, Clint and I are flying out to Seoul. The logical next step for Ultron was to build a better body, that's what we all kept saying. So the only thing he could do to improve upon himself was if he got Dr. Cho to synthesize a vibranium body for him. And we were going to prevent that from happening. We hoped. That's the plan anyway.

But when we got there Ultron had ransacked the place, shot the building up, and stolen the cradle with the growing body inside. And neither Ultron nor the twins were anywhere to be found.

"How's Dr. Cho?" I asked worriedly.

"She'll be ok, apparently Wanda freed her from the scepter's control." Cap replied. He had infiltrated Helen's lab alone, the rest of us stayed up in the jet on surveillance.

Why would she free Dr. Cho? That makes no sense, it goes against their plans entirely.

"Alright well let's find the cradle then." Clint stated.

"That could be him." Romanoff suggested pointing out a big rig moving down a side road hundreds of feet below us.

"There." Clint said redirecting our attention to an 18 wheeler traveling down the highway. "It's the truck from the lab." I peered down out of the window, sure enough there it was. "Right above you Cap, on the loop on the bridge. It's them, got three with the cradle and one with the cab. I can take out the driver." Clint offered already flipping switched to prepare the quinjet to fire.

"Negative, that truck crashes the gem would level the city. We need to draw out Ultron." Steve explained reminding us that the gem from Loki's scepter was imbedded in the body. I watched on as Cap leaped from the bridge down onto the truck. The super soldier rolled over top and dropped down the back only to have the doors blasted open. Steve flew upwards and landed back onto the broken metal door that was now scraping the road sending sparks flying.

"Well he's definitely unhappy, I'm gunna try to keep him that way." Cap yelled over the comms as he clung to the metal.

"You can't take him." Clint told him realistically. So supportive Hawkeye.

"Thanks Barton." Cap sighed. There was a blast and Steve was thrown back onto the window shield of the car behind him. I cringed when I heard the class crack through the radio. Barton flew us low through the city, level with the buildings. It always made me nervous when he did that, I knew he wasn't going to crash but you can never be sure.

Steve was rolling all around the truck trying to dodge Ultron's attacks, swinging back and forth, and hanging off the sides. It was a miracle he hadn't fallen off yet. When he lost his shield Nat unbuckled herself and moved to the loading bay.

"I'm going in."

"We've got a window…four, three, two…give 'em hell." Barton said as he lowered the plane close enough for Tasha to jump with her motorcycle.

"I'm always picking up after you boys." She commented as she weaved in and out of the cars, reaching down to grab Cap's shield.

"We're heading under the overpass, I've got no shot." Clint informed his red headed partner.

"Which way?" Widow asked wondering where the truck was.

"Hard right…now!" Nat swerved her cycle, fishtailing somewhat as she regained her balance.

"Oh geez." I muttered as Romanoff turned down a heavily populated street. We are a huge danger to society at times, it was a wonder that there weren't more people protesting against us. I sucked in a sharp breath when Tasha slid underneath Ultron's truck, barely coming through the other side before she was crushed. Was that really a necessary risk?

Just then Ultron lifted up a piece of earth out of the ground directly in Natasha's path, which she narrowly avoided.

"Since when could he do that?" I asked in exasperation. Alright world I'm ready for the surprises to end.

Steve and Ultron resumed their fighting on top of the truck, only for the metal man to use the same weird geokinetic abilities to throw Cap from the cab while simultaneously causing a seven car crash. The cars flipped through the air, all crashing into one another and miraculously Steve made it out unscathed. Seriously how did the guy just magically finesse his way out these kinds of situations and manage to come out on top.

"Clint I need to get down there." I said rising from my seat and pushing my sore abdomen from my mind for the time being.

"Everyone's leaving me." Clint grumbled, "Alright hold on." He steered around the highway system getting as close as he could to the fight. I ran to the back and opened up the docking door.

"You ready?" Clint questioned. As I'll ever be.

"Yeah!" I shouted over the wind, taking a steadying breath. Clint gave me a countdown similar Nat's and at one I jumped. There was a short sensation of falling before I smacked down into the truck, using my abilities to soften the blow. Ultron whipped around startled and Steve used the advantage to get a good hit in knocking him towards me where I rammed him with a pulse of energy.

Clint barreled toward the truck and I ducked when he took a few shots at Ultron attempting to gain the attention of the robots inside the cab. It worked and they took off into the sky. Ultron flew up into the air, hovering just out of Steve's immediate reach. Cap wasted no time however, before tackling Ultron into a passing train. I stared dumbly at them for a second before reacting.

"You have got to be kidding me." I yelled as I used the truck momentum to leap onto the train after them. It took a minute to find them, but all I had to do was the follow the sounds of screaming passengers.

"Duck!" I told Steve as I hurtled a ball of energy at Ultron sending him flying to the ground. It didn't deter him in the slightly, he instantly jumped back up and fired at me. I blocked his shot easily but fell on my ass when the robot charged my barrier like a linebacker. Steve quickly ripped the metal man away from me and I shielded him from the laser bullet that Ultron shot at him.

"I'm going in, guys can you keep him occupied?" Tasha questioned.

"What do you think we've been doing?" Cap replied out of breath. Our fight continued on for a few more minutes, and I tried as best as I could to protect Cap and myself while still keeping the passengers safe.

"The package is airborne." Clint informed us, "I have a clean shot."

"Negative I am still in the truck." Natasha said.

"What? Nat get out of there!" I shouted at the same time as Clint said,

"What the hell are you doing in there?"

"Just be ready, I'm sending the package to you." I couldn't hear the rest of what was going, Ultron got a lucky hit in and I rolled to the back of the car with an 'ooff.' I made a move to get back up, pausing briefly when the pain in my stomach flared up.

"I've got the cradle. What—wait they took Nat!" Clint hissed, "I'm turning around."

"No, take the package to the tower." Cap commanded firmly, "That's our top priority."

"Yes sir." Clint bit out frustratedly. I didn't get much time to panic about my teammates capture before a blur flashed passed Steve and then Ultron was then sprawled on the floor. A hand wrapped around my upper arm yanking me into a standing position and pushing me back behind something. Or rather someone, it was Pietro oddly enough. What the hell?

Ultron took a menacing step towards the both of us but the metal guards shifted red and bent in front of us in a protective manor. Wanda stood behind Steve, hands outstretched and glowing red. Ultron turned towards her.

"Please, don't do this." Ultron pleaded with her.

"What choice do we have?" Wanda countered. What was she talking about? Why were they helping us? Ultron turned back around and fired a string of lasers in our direction. Pietro pushed my head down and behind the steel seats pulling us both out of the way as the front of the train blew out. The sentient robot then blasted out the side door and escaped.

Bewildered by the sudden appearance of the twins I quickly removed myself from Pietro and dashed over to Steve. The speedster sent me a questioning look but flashed to his sister all the same.

"You ok?" I asked Steve as I helped him to his feet. He nodded briefly before the train made a violent shudder as it was derailed. I braced myself against the supporting pole and grimaced as the passengers screamed. Steve looked directly at Pietro and said,

"There are civilians in our path." The speed demon wasted no time before taking off to rescue the people who were trapped in front of us. "Can you stop this thing?" He asked Wanda, she looked unsure but blasted red tendrils down into the main frame of the train and instantly I felt the train lurch as the wheels rotation became restricted. I latched onto the metal pole again before I could topple over.

As Wanda strained to bring the train to a stop, I put up a shield at the front of the train to protect the remaining passengers. It was a miracle when the giant thing finally stopped moving.

The passengers all scrambled off the train, and we headed out where Pietro was waiting for us. I was surprised to see him out of breath, I hadn't thought that possible.

"Are you alright?" Wanda asked him worriedly when she ran off the train to her brother who was hunched over with his hands on his knees.

"I will be fine, give me a minute."

"I may not want to give you that." Steve commented, giving the twins are hard look. The two Maximoffs shared an uneasy glance.

"Where is the cradle?" Wanda asked.

"Stark has it, it's safe with him."

"Is it? I saw into Ultron's mind. Like you said, Ultron can't see the difference between saving the world and destroying it." Wanda explained looking directly at me. "Who do you think he gets that from?" _Tony_ , I answered immediately in my mind. A queasy looked passed over Steve's face

"Stark, come in." Steve said into the comm. After a brief pause, "Stark." Again no response. That's not good. Cap's eye's flashed to me and I frowned. We needed to get back, now. Before that idiotic genius did something stupid.

"Alright, if you two are coming with, we're leaving now." Steve said. Wait, what?

"What that's it? You're just gunna take them to the tower?" I asked incredulously, gawking at Cap's rash decision.

"We want to help." Wanda commented, her face screamed honesty but my gut begged to differ.

"You two are about as helpful as a flu shot filled with cancer." I snorted.

"Sarah, we need all the help we can get." Steve told me shooting a disapproving look in my direction. Apparently my comment wasn't as funny to him as it was to me. Well I thought it was clever.

"What if they're Trojan horsing us?" I countered. A flicker of recognition crossed Cap's face and I waited for the 'I understood that reference' but it never came, probably not the most appropriate time for it anyway.

"Then that's my decision." I frowned in displease at his response.

"Well it's a stupid ass decision. This could put the team in danger."

"Well then I'm pulling rank." I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms, jutting one hip out slightly.

"Oh, how democratic of you Captain _America_."

"You're not even American Byrd." Alright well he had me there. I was actually born in Germany, I just gone K through 8th in the States that's why my accent was more American than German.

"Feel free to put us in our place should we prove to be a threat." Pietro intervened taking part in the conversation. I glared at him, but contemplated the offer. If they did turn on us we would definitely be able to take them out. Right?

"I don't trust them."

"Well right now trust is a luxury we don't have. Deal with it." Cap said bluntly. I let out a huff in clear annoyance. This was so stupid, if this went south we could only blame ourselves. But it's not like our situation could get much worse.

"We don't have a jet." I said giving up on fighting with the old man. "Clint took off with it."

"Then we'll take Dr. Cho's." Oh right, she took one of Tony's quinjets to fly back to Seoul after the attack on the tower.

"Who will fly it? Jarvis is incapacitated." I reminded him, wondering to myself if I had enough in my bank account to fly all of us back to the U.S. commercially.

"I can fly it." Steve stated taking on an expression that could only be compared to a preening peacock. I raised an eyebrow at this.

"I think World War II planes are a little bit different than the quinjet Cap."

"Widow and Barton have been teaching me." The soldier defended.

"Oh yeah, since when?"

"Uh, about three months."

"Yup, I'll walk to New York thanks."

"Sarah come on, I'm not that bad. I can get us there."

"When we die I want my headstone to say, 'Here lies Sarah Eliza Byrd. Daughter, Sister, Friend and Avenger. Too bad she let Steve Rogers fly a modern aircraft, she was too trusting, her fatal flaw.'" Steve pushed my face playfully away from him. After living with a team made up of mostly male counterparts, I had learned that the fasted way to diffuse awkward tension was to make a stupid and pointless joke.

"This generation is so dramatic." Steve replied rolling his eyes.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

"Helen!" I breathed out, rushing over to our fallen doctor. She was laying down in one the portable cradles as her assistants zipped around her worriedly. They looked like frantic bees hovering around a honey pot. The poor doctor was paler than I'd ever seen her and she looked truly awful. Her hair was a bird's nest, her clothes were stained a dreadful red and the haggard expression on her face just tore at my insides. But at least she was alive.

"How do you feel? Are you ok? No, that's a stupid question you were shot with a laser of course you're not! But you're going to be fine!" I fretted, nervously moving my hands around her in a useless manor. Well, no one said I had a perfect bedside manner.

The whole place was completely trashed, there was debris everywhere, smashed windows, broken doors, blood splatters here and there. I wondered if it was Ultron himself that tore the place apart or if the Maximoffs had anything to do with it. Not that it mattered now anyway, what's done is done and they were on our team now apparently.

"I'll be fine. Did you get the cradle back from Ultron?" Helen asked weakly. I cringed at her crackly voice.

"It's with Tony, we're actually going to head back to the tower soon."

"We were hoping you could help us with that." Cap interjected as he and the Sokovian siblings made their way into the room. The second we arrived at the facility, I bolted towards the med bay to check on Helen. Cap and the twins stayed behind to clear some rubble from a blocked door so they were just now coming in.

The twins looked highly uncomfortable being here, they stood close to one another with their body language closed off and guarded. They weren't the only ones though, Cho's assistants gave the Maximoffs a wide berth and practically ran out of the room fearfully. Only a couple stayed behind to monitor their boss, I couldn't help but wonder if it was brave of them or if Steve and I's presence reassured their feelings of safety.

"Of course, anything you need." Dr. Cho replied immediately.

"We need to use your jet." Steve said cutting to chase. I sent Cap an unimpressed glare. Really? No, 'how are you Helen?' 'how you feeling Helen?'

"You don't even have to ask, it's the team's." Cho replied logically. Her face pulled into a tight grimace and a low groan of pain escaped her lips. Worriedly I reached forward and grabbed her hand reassuringly, helping her lean back on the bed.

"Have they given you anything?" I asked. She nodded her head sleepily and blearily blinked her eyes as they lost their usually sharp focus for a moment. This was probably the worst pain she's ever experienced in her life, she wasn't a fighter so this was all new to her. And the only reason she was in this situation was because of us, I thought guiltily.

"We should get going." Steve said. What? We just got here! I looked back down at Dr. Cho who was staring up at us with glazed eyes.

"I'll be fine. Go find Ultron and make him pay." I opened my mouth to argue, to say that I would stay with her in case that Ultron came back but Steve beat me to it.

"Ultron doesn't need her anymore, she's safe here. We need to get going."

"But what if he sends more of his robot friends to 'tie up loose ends'? She'll need someone who can-"

"He won't. He only needed the cradle from her, but since you have it now there's no reason for him to go after her. He won't waste his time." Wanda informed us.

"And SHIELD has already dispatched agents to this location, she'll be fine Sarah." Steve told me in a gentler voice than before in an attempt to persuade me. I didn't like it, just leaving her here unprotected, yeah. We've never been best friends or anything, but she was part of the team.

"I'll come visit you when all this is said and done." I promised her, conceding to Steve. We didn't have a lot of time to argue with each other, no matter how much I wanted to. I did want to stay with Helen but I reasoned internally that I should help the majority of my team instead, they always needed all the help they could get.

"Get well soon, Dr. Cho. We'll check on you in a couple days." Steve said, shooting her a charming smile.

Helen gave us a forced smile, that bordered more on the grimace side, but I smiled back at her none the less. I backed away from Helen feeling oddly heavy. Too many innocents were managing to get caught in the cross fires, and it was only going to get worse from here on out.

"Wait," Pietro said as we turned to head out the door, catching all of us, except maybe Wanda, off guard. "Dr. Cho, I want to apologize for what happened to you. I feel terrible and I..." He trailed off, seeming at a loss for words. But the regret was clear on his face. Wanda placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"We both regret our decisions and if we could, we would take it all back in a heartbeat." She finished for him. Pietro nodded, agreeing with his sister.

Helen had a conflicted look on her face, I could tell that she didn't trust the twins at all. But regardless she gave then a terse nod that the two siblings relaxed to slightly. I caught Pietro's eye and was met with an unreadable expression. It was unsettling, so I turned away and followed Steve out of the room.

Take off wasn't the smoothest one I've ever experienced before, but Steve didn't crash us into the ground so I call it a win. Although I did have my eyes squeezed shut and a death grip on my seat, but that's not because I'm afraid of flying. I have no problem with flying when I know that the pilot's good.

"God, are we dead yet?" The Maximoff man groaned from the back once Steve levelled the plane, albeit shakily.

"Pietro." His sister chided quietly.

"Ha ha. Hilarious, I'm getting us there aren't I." Steve grumbled, he looked mildly peeved but mostly relieved that we had made it up in the air.

"Barely." I mumbled to myself, knowing full well that Cap's enhanced senses could hear me. I unbuckled from my seat and meandered to the storage unit in the center of the jet and pulled out a few water bottles. I think the last time I had something to drink and eat was at Clint's house, and that felt like days ago now.

I began to think about what it would be like if Ultron found his way to the Barton's home, but quickly shoved the stray thought as far into the back of my mind as possible. We had to find Ultron and stop him because there was no way in hell that I could allow those sweet little kids to get hurt.

Tossing one of the bottle to Steve, I made my way hesitantly towards the twins and handed one to Wanda. I didn't know if Ultron had cared about hydration and all that, seeing as he was a robot that didn't need anything like that, so I figured I should try to be nice.

The brunette woman looked at the bottle warily and it was obvious she was debated whether or not to drink it. I sighed and snatched it out of her hands before taking a swig myself.

"It's not poisoned." I told them dryly tossing the bottle back to her. I doubt that, that was what she was actually thinking, she could read minds and all so of course she would know if I was trying to kill them or not. She had the grace to look embarrassed though.

"Here." I said, and handed the extra to Pietro.

"Thanks." He muttered before promptly chugging the whole thing. Wanda glared at him and took a couple sips herself.

"You gunna change your shirt?" Cap called out from the front of the plane.

"What's wrong with my—oh." I glanced down at my shirt and found that there was a large tear from roughly my right hip up to just below my rib cage. "This is one of the new ones." I complained quietly to myself.

I dug through the cabinets again and had to push through a sea of red, white, and blue tops before I could find an extra grey uniform. I must have caught my shirt on a random sharp point during the fight, I don't really remember Ultron clawing at me at any point, but who knows.

Without thinking much, I gingerly pulled off my shirt leaving on my black sports bra and threw the torn piece of cloth in the disposal, careful not to upset my injury. It had been pretty numb throughout the fight, whatever Mrs. Barton had given me this morning was some powerful stuff. It still looked terrible though, the bruising looked like abstract art and the new cuts everywhere really added to the drama.

"How come your clothes always make it out with only dirt on them, and mine get destroyed?"

"Maybe I'm just more careful than you." Steve joked.

"Well, we both know that's a lie." I snorted.

I couldn't count the number of times I've had to change in front of the guys because of a situation just like this. Of course Banner had to change his clothes frequently too, but only when it was a Code Green, so not very often. Thor's clothes were probably made of magic so there was that, but I've only ever seen Steve's clothes trash worthy a couple times.

My pants would be fine for now, some holes here and there but nothing terrible. I turned towards to the back of the jet to tug on my shirt and saw Wanda's eyes as large as saucers. Oh, I didn't even think about their take on modesty.

"Sorry, I'm used to changing in front of the team." I apologized, my cheeks taking on a pink hue. It was never embarrassing to change in front of people unless others found it embarrassing. And now it was definitely awkward.

"Your stomach…" Wanda said in a shocked tone. I glanced down and saw the black and purple mottling that took over most of my abdomen. Shrugging I replied nonchalantly,

"Oh, yeah." I turned away feeling uncomfortable, and struggled to lift the shirt over my head due to the soreness.

"Does it hurt?" Pietro's voice said much closer than I expected and I jumped in surprise causing pain to shoot up my abdomen. He lifted a hand as if to touch it, but I slapped it away.

"Yes, so let's not touch. Ok?" I replied crabbier because the medicine was starting to wear off. I should have grabbed something from Helen's facility. Steve turned around in his seat at my outburst and sent me a look of concern. I moved to pull it on, but stopped when I found it was going to be more difficult than I thought.

"Did I do that?" Pietro asked with a touch of disgust, "Back in Africa when I…" He had an appalled expression on his face, but I shook my head.

"No, it happened when I was fighting the Hulk."

"So you caught up with him then." Wanda concluded.

"He wasn't that hard to find. He's a giant green rage monster." I replied apathetically, trying to stifle my smothered anger on what happened in South Africa. It was still sore subject for me, all I had to do was think about the broken look on Bruce's s face and I was mad again.

"But you have your shields, why did you not protect yourself?" Pietro asked.

"Yes, well it's hard to protect yourself and all the civilians at the same time, especially when you're only one there." I huffed, trying not to let my agitation get to me.

"You took him on alone!? That's insane, why would-"

"The alternative was to let him destroy the city, what was I supposed to do?" I countered back angrily.

"You could have-"

"We're not having this discussion." I finalized, effectively ending the conversation. "Steve?" I asked, gesturing for him to help me with the stupid shirt. The super soldier stood up and took the grey shirt out of my hands. I sucked in a breath when he helped lift my arms but he was quick about it and in no time I was fully clothed. I mumbled a thanks before carefully lowering myself down into the chair next to him.

The twins had identical frowns on their faces and they looked like they wanted to say more. But I wasn't in the mood to deal with all of their questions, especially since I didn't have to give them any answers.

They didn't bring up South Africa again, and for that I was grateful. We spent the rest of the flight in silence, with radio chatter breaking up the quiet every now and again. Cap looked exhausted, I could see the dark bags forming under his eyes and it really aged his youthful looking face. I knew he was older than my grandparents but rarely did he ever look older than thirty-five.

Luckily and much to our relief, Jarvis was able to land the plane at Stark Tower. Steve grumbled about being able to do it himself, but he wasn't quick enough to hide his relief. It felt nice to be back at home, even if this wasn't my actual home it still got rid of the tension in my shoulders and gave me a lighter walk just by being here. After missions, I would take a head count even if I knew the whole team made it home. It was to give me an extra peace of mind.

But today was different. Even if I felt better being somewhere familiar again, not everyone was here with me. Thor still hadn't checked in with us, and of course there was Nat.

"Do you think Natasha is still alive?" I asked Steve bluntly. He glanced back at me in surprise and slowed down to fall into step with me.

"I don't know kid. It doesn't seem like the smart move to keep her around." Cap told me honestly, he was never really one to beat around the bush. I nodded, trying to keep my composure and not completely break into a giant ball of tears. If I was Ultron, I wouldn't want to keep a master spy in my lair either, who knows what kind of detrimental things she could do to sabotage him.

"Why take her in the first place and not just dump her? It doesn't make sense." I rubbed my cheeks in frustration, I hated this not knowing, this stupid guessing game.

"Who knows, Ultron is a crazy, murderous robot who plans on destroying the world. Only God can tell us what he's thinking." Steve tilted his head heavenwards and had a slight smile on his face. It did little to make me feel better, if anything, his expression looked hopeless.

If the Maximoffs had any input on the situation, they kept it to themselves. I doubt that they had any idea on how Ultron's thought process worked either. They just trudged behind us, letting us lead them around.

I could hear the machines whirring and low unintelligible voices before I actually saw the entrance to the lab. Walking in I noticed that Stark and Bruce had hooked the cradle up to just about every machine in the room. I hadn't realized before how large the cradle actually was. It was like a huge metal coffin.

It only took a seconds thought as to why they had that thing all hooked up. They couldn't possibly be thinking about creating another artificial intelligent life form? They're not that stupid. I glanced over at Steve and he had the same disapproving look plastered on his face as well.

"I'm gunna say this once-" He started.

"How bout nunce?" Stark interrupted snippily.

"Shut it down." Cap commanded. I stopped a few paces behind him, crossing my arms over my chest. These idiots were going to be the death of me or all of us really. The Maximoff twins warily came to stand by my side, watching Tony suspiciously. This was a great way to get an alliance started, show the people who already hated Tony Stark that really is as stupid as they think.

"Nope, not gunna happen." Stark said continuing on whatever it was he was trying to do. I shifted uncomfortably, I had a bad feeling that this wasn't going to end well.

"You don't know what you're doing." Cap urged, stepping closer.

"And you do?" Bruce commented, "She's not in your head?" He asked frustratedly gesturing towards Wanda. It hadn't occurred to me that they might think Wanda was using her mind control over us. That thought made me shiver, she could have easily done it at any time.

"I know you're angry-" Wanda started, walking towards Bruce.

"No, we're way past that." Bruce said narrowing his eyes dangerously. "I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade." My heart dropped to my toes at that statement, there was so much malice that I could practically feel the temperature dropping.

"Bruce." I called out quietly in minor horror, he would never do something like that. He was the good one. He glanced over at me and his expression softened ever so slightly.

"Sarah, I can't take back what happened." He told me, guilt thick in his voice.

"No, but you can get passed it." I basically pleaded, striding over to him. I didn't like this side of him, it bothered me to see him this way. He was never one for violence, sure he was the glass is half empty kinda guy but this…

Bruce shook his head, his unruly curls bouncing back and forth and let out a humorless chuckle as if that wasn't even a possibility.

"Banner after everything that's happened-" Steve tried again.

"Is nothing compared to what's coming." Tony cut him off. Steve sent him a glare that was duly ignored.

"You don't know what's in there!" Wanda argued, getting angry herself at the useless back and forth.

"Tony, fighting fire with fire isn't going to put it out!" I rebutted, hoping to knock some sense into him. Stark smirked and added smugly,

"Good thing I've got an extinguisher this time." Always the smart ass. As we continued to argue with one another, a rush of air blew past me, throwing up papers in the air and I had to take a step to keep my balance. What in the world?

"No, no go on," Pietro baited tossing an unplugged cord to the floor haphazardly, "you were saying." An unbelieving laugh escaped my mouth before I could squash it down. Well that's one way to do it. He smirked over at me, but then suddenly there was a loud pop, the glass flooring cracked underneath the speedster and then he was falling through the floor.

"Pietro!" Wanda shrieked fearfully, dashing forward towards the hole to peer down at her fallen brother. I looked through the broken glass and saw Clint standing over the Maximoff boy, pinning him down with a foot on the Sokovian's leg. The silver haired man looked a little dazed but uninjured. Oh, right. We didn't tell Clint they were on our side now. Whoops.

"What, you didn't see that coming?" Clint mocked. All previous humor had been wiped from Pietro's face as he stared up at the archer angrily.

I about jumped out my skin when warning alarms went off in the lab and I whipped around to look at Tony. Oh good Lord what now? Did Clint's bullet hit something important? Glancing around at the computers I found that the cradle had entered critical power loss since Pietro has unplugged everything.

"Dr. Banner." Tony said moving his hands over the computers to try and fix the problem. Steve, no longer willing to be patient, threw his shield into the equipment causing it to ricochet around the room. I gave a shout in alarm as it sailed over my head.

"A little warning next time Steve." I grumbled in annoyance. Then quick as a whip Tony had on one of Iron Man gauntlets and fired at Cap, sending him flying backwards and shattering glass in all directions.

"Stark are you crazy!" I yelled as he proceeded to put on the rest of his suit. A startled gasp drew me to look at Wanda where Bruce now had his arm around her throat.

"Go ahead, piss me off." He muttered darkly. My eye were probably bugging out my head, our whole team was falling to pieces right in front of me. What the hell was going on!

"Banner let her go." I demanded firmly, stepping towards the pair. I may not particularly trust her, but that didn't mean I wanted her dead. And I certainly didn't want another death on Bruce's hands.

Cap chose this time to ram back into Stark, only to be propelled backwards where he promptly blindsided me. I tumbled to floor and grunted as I rammed into a table. I was going to kill somebody. Seriously.

I pushed myself up with great effort. Whatever was going on, I needed to stop it. Now. I pulled in the energy around me and tried to concentrate it to the frequency at which Tony's machines were working. If I could overload it, hopefully the system would shut down. After a few moments I release a quick pulse of energy and prayed that my make shift EMP worked. Blue energy flew across the room, with me as the epicenter. The others jerked in a panic as the energy moved through them, but it was only aimed to damage electronics.

But for some reason, when it collided with the cradle, the energy reverberated and boomeranged back at me. I yelped in surprise as my own energy yo-yoed back into me. It didn't hurt, but the blast slid me back a couple yards and I had to kneel to stop myself from sliding further. That was new. I rubbed my chest anxiously where the energy had rebounded back.

Then to my surprise Thor flew across the floor stopping in front of the cradle. He chose now of all times to show up? He lifted his hammer and summoned an enormous amount of lighting, I could feel the electricity in the air causing my airs to stand on end.

"Wait!" Banner shouted. But Thor rammed the cradle full of lighting, warning sirens filled the room as the machine reached max input. I had to squint to keep my focus on Thor's figure because the lightning had blurred my vision considerably. And then anticlimactically, the Asgardian pulled back from the cradle but nothing happened. Did he short it out?

Then in a burst of light, the cradle shattered spewing glass shards and blasting Thor to the ground. Instinctively a barrier appeared out in front of me as chunks of glass clattered around, bouncing off my near invisible shield. As the dust and light clear away, a man with dark red almost purple coloring gracefully lifted out of the bed and onto bended knee.

"Oh my God." I whispered. They had done it, they made a man! That was-how did they—how was this possible? Everyone around the room stilled in shock and amazement, myself included. Slowly the man rose and looked around the room. Then suddenly he flew at Thor and the Norse god reacted by throwing the red man over his shoulder and through another glass wall. We really needed to take out all this glass. But before the man could crash into the outer window, he stopped, hovering in midair.

Without hesitation, we rushed over our earlier arguments forgotten for the moment. Cap ran up behind Thor who was already near the man, but the god held a hand out causing the super soldier to stop in his tracks. Thor carefully placed his hammer down on a side table and cautiously he walked over to the red man who had glided down to our level to per curiously at us.

"I'm sorry, that was…odd." The artificial man stated. My eyes widened, he sounded exactly like Jarvis. British accent and everything. "Thank you." He said graciously to Thor. The red man looked over the god and a golden cape similar to Thor's slid down his back, it looked it grew out of his shoulders.

"Thor. You helped create this?" Steve asked still trying to take in the whole situation. Honestly it was unclear if he was trying to bring it to life or over power the system like I was. But why didn't Thor's lightning have the same effect my energy did?

"I've had a vision, the world, where its starts, all hope and life and at its center, it that." He said pointed to the gold stone in the middle of the purple/red man's forehead.

"What the gem?" Banner asked in confusion. Thor nodded.

"It's the mindstone, one of the six infinity stones, the greatest power in the universe and it is unparalleled in its destructive capabilities."

"Then why would you bring it to life?" Steve asked. Good question because that sounded like an awful idea.

"Stark is right." Thor admitted.

"Don't say that." I muttered, looking over at Tony who had a pleased expression.

"Oh, it's definitely the end of times." Bruce commented.

"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron."

"Not alone." The red man added, walking forwards in my direction. I didn't realize I had my shield up until the artificial man easily passed through it as if it were fog. I gasped in shock and stared at the man in rapt amazement. That had never happened before, _ever_. Yes things have broken my shield but not just phased through it. When a hand tugged on my wrist, I didn't resist as it pulled me backwards and out of the way.

"Why does your vision sound like Jarvis?" Steve asked. Better question, why can it walk though my force field? No one ever asks the important questions.

"I reconfigured Jarvis' matrix, to create something new." Stark replied walked up towards his masterpiece and checking it out.

"I think I've had my fill of new." Cap commented.

"You think I am a child of Ultron." The red man stated. The hand on my wrist tightened briefly and I glanced back to see that it was Pietro who had moved me out of the way. This didn't surprise me much, he had a bad habit of being handsy apparently.

He peered down at me and raised an eyebrow. Not knowing how to respond I did the same, he blinked his blue eyes at me couple times before releasing my wrist and looking away. I furrowed my eyebrows at him and turned back around. What a weirdo. Wanda let out a quiet laugh but when I looked at her, her face was plain.

"You're not?" Steve replied suspiciously.

"I am not Ultron." He said simply, "I am not Jarvis. I am…I am." Well that certainly cleared things up. The others didn't seem too convinced either.

"I looked in your head," Wanda stated, stepping towards him, "I saw annihilation." My eyes narrowed at the new comer. Was he going to be yet another enemy? We had enough of them as is.

"Look again." He said simply.

"Ha, her seal of approval means jack to me." Clint snorted walking up beside me.

"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the mindstone. And that is nothing compared to what it could unleash if it were on our side." Thor explained, stepping up.

"Is it?" Cap questioned, turning towards the red man, "Are you on our side?" there was a tense moment as we waited for his response.

"I don't think it's that simple." He answered truthfully.

"Well it better get real simple real soon." I said seriously, taking part in the conversation. The man watched me for a second, and I was filled with the need to produce another barrier, even though I knew it would do nothing against him.

"I am on the side of life," He continued, "Ultron isn't, he will end it all." He sounded sad at that fact.

"What's he waiting for?"

"You." He stated easily.

"Where?"

"Sokovia." Clint filled in.

"Sokovia?" I repeated, confusion clear on my face.

"He's got Nat there too." Clint informed, handing me a tablet with her location pulled. "Found her through old spy frequency." My hands tightened, so she was alive. This seemed to Bruce's attention, he walked forward and got close to Ultron.

"If we're wrong about you…" Banner trialed off. The red man took a step forward.

"What will you do?" the two stared at one another for a tense few second. Bruce didn't answer, I don't think he had to. The artificial man broke the silence,

"I don't want to kill Ultron, he is unique, and he's in pain," The man paced slowly around the room, "and that pain will roll over the earth, so he must be destroyed." So not an enemy then, I concluded. "Every form he's built, every trace and presence of him. We have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the other." He said turning back around to face us. Then he did something, no one expected, he picked up Thor's hammer like one would pick up a cup.

"There may be no way to make you trust me, but we need to go." He finished lifting the hammer for Thor to take. Thor looked over at him and with leery eyes, he took back his weapon and awkwardly said,

"Right, well done." I watched dumbfounded as Thor walked out, following the mysterious man.

"Boshe moi." (Oh my God) I muttered in Russian rubbing my cheeks. Today has been a little too eventful for my taste.

"Ten minutes, get what you need." Cap told us breaking the stunned silence, leaving to whatever it was he had to get down. Clint grabbed his tablet back and hurried off downstairs where I knew he was going to stock up on ammo, I on the other was going to my locker to stock up on pain medications.

"Sarah." Stark called out. I stopped in the doorway and turned to him. "Take the kiddos with you and get em some clothes would ya?" He said rather than asked before he disappeared in the elevator. I glanced over at the twins who were looking at me, expecting an answer.

"Oh, ok um this way." I said awkwardly gesturing in the direction I was headed. The locker room was only a floor below us and catty corner were the extra suits, shoes, belts etcetera. I think Tony makes our uniforms by the dozen considering they don't last very long.

"So he can walk through your shield." Pietro stated when he fell into step beside me. "Does that happen often?" I huffed in annoyance, I'd rather not talk about the faults in my abilities, I already had enough reserves about using them to begin with.

"No, it's never happened before." I replied. He looked like he was going to say more, but I caught the look Wanda was giving him and he remained silent. Thank God. He had a weird ability to make me talk about things I really didn't want to.

We separated briefly as I went for my locker and they stayed behind to find suitable clothing. I downed a couple of strong pain pills and prayed for the best.

In the mirror I could see my shoulder length hair falling out of the ponytail I had it in earlier, I pulled out the band slowly, trying not to upset my bruised abdomen and quickly resituated it as best I could. I also changed out of my black pants and traded them for a more durable charcoal pair that matched my uniform top. I traded in my running shoes for a pair of more durable black ankle boots.

I looked at myself one more time in the mirror and couldn't help but notice how young I looked. Maybe it was the wide green eyes that screamed 'I'm terrified', but whatever it was I was reminded that I was only in my early twenties. I had been in lots of fights before with the Avengers, but the sense of mortality hit me like a brick wall stronger than it ever had.

I sighed and took a couple of deep breaths before steeling myself and leaving the locker room. The twins were waiting outside for when I left the lockers, I was surprised they hadn't just gone back upstairs instead of waiting for me. Wanda had put one of Nat's red jackets on over her clothes and Pietro had new running shoes and a tight light grey long sleeve. I raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Seriously, could he found a tighter shirt? It was distracting.

Clint was the last one on the plane, right behind the Maximoffs and I, no doubt because he called Laura. I hope she was doing ok, all this stress surely wasn't good for little Nathaniel. If any of us have to make it back, it has to be Clint. He has people depending on him. Thor has a whole world that needs him, but he's a lot more durable than Clint so I wasn't as worried. That reminded me, I should probably call my mom.

"Tony, do you have a phone?" Stark turned to look at me and fiddled with his pockets.

"Uh, yeah what's up?" Previously the plane ride had been silent and now everyone had stopped to listen to my request. I've never talked to my family in front of the team before, and I've certainly never asked to call them, but there a bad feeling weighing in my chest. It made me want to talk to my mom.

"I want to call my mom." I told him bluntly. His eyes soften in understanding and he tossed me his own model of a cell phone.

"No problem." He said before turning back around to talk to Banner. With a shaky breath I dialed he familiar pattern. It rang a couple of times and I feared that she wouldn't pick up.

"Hello?"

"Mom?" My voice crackled. Mom knew I was an Avenger, but she didn't know I was on active duty for it. She thought Stark was paying for me to attend grad school right now.

"Oh, Sarah honey, how are you?" She chatted excitedly, it has been a while since I checked in. I cleared my throat a couple times in an attempt to remove the lump I felt.

"I-I'm good, how are you doing?"

"'I'm doing fine! Just got a new haircut, I sent you picture but you never responded." Mom added pretending to be upset.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I've been really busy lately." I told her lamely.

"Yes, yes studying hard my little college kid. How's grad school?" I grimaced, I hated lying to her.

"It's good. Loving every minute." I managed some fake enthusiasm in that last one, enough to appease her anyway. I caught Wanda's gaze and she raised a questioning brow at me. I turned away, not needed her silent judgment for lying to my mother.

"That's wonderful! Did you hear what happened in South America with the Hulk? Can you believe it? I am so glad you're not involved with all that anymore. Was your team ok?" I froze for a minute, hadn't seen any of the footage yet so I wasn't sure if I was on it. Hopefully not, that is a terrible way for my family to find out I'm an Avenger.

"Oh yeah, South America, yeah that was crazy for sure. It worked out in the end, the team's A-Okay." Bruce's head whipped around when I mentioned South America and I cringed. "Listen, mom is Dylan there?" I asked hopefully. It was a long shot, but if I could talk to my baby brother too, I could go out there with no reservations.

"No sorry Hun, he's still in school. Are you ok you sound like you've been crying?" Mom asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, just stressed, I've got a lot going on." I told her.

"Well if anyone can get through it, you can!" she sounded so happy, and I felt like the most terrible daughter in the world for lying to her. But if it kept her safe than it was worth it.

"Thanks, Mom I got to go." I paused and let out a sigh before adding, "You know I love you right? Even though I don't call as much as I used to, and I don't visit a lot. You-you know I love you guys?" For some reason, at that moment I was terrified that she didn't know, that she assumed I never thought about them anymore.

"Of course I do baby, now what's wrong? You sound like something's wrong."

"Nothing wrong, Mom. It's nothing I can't handle. I just wanted to make sure that you knew that." I hurriedly told her, hoping she couldn't hear the way my voice caught at the end.

"Of course I know you love me, and we love you too ok?" Even though no one was looking at me, I felt like they were all intensely listening in and it made my uncomfortable even if they weren't.

"Thanks mom. Ich liebe dich, Dylan zu sagen, dass ich ihn auch lieben. Und geben Sie ihm eine Umarmung für mich." _(I love you, tell Dylan I love him too. And give him a hug for me.)_

"Ich, liebe dich. Rufen Sie mich an, wenn Sie eine Chance bekommen." ( _I will, love you. Call me when you get a chance.)_

"Ok, tschüss." ( _Ok, bye.)_ I whispered as I ended the call. I had to look up at the ceiling for a moment to stop the tears that had formed in my eyes from falling. I passed Tony his phone and leaned back in my seat, hooking up a fresh comm in my ear to distract myself.

"You are crying." Pietro stated. He was seated on the opposite side of the isle next to Wanda.

"What?" I asked staring dumbly at him as he leaned over and reached forward to wipe the pad of thumb over my cheeks, when he pulled away his finger was wet.

"See?" He said. I reached up with my own hand and swiping my fingers across my cheeks. I knew I was crying, I was just wondering why he was bringing it up. Why couldn't he just ignore it like everyone else? But what surprised me even more was that he pulled out a filtration mask and headed back towards me. I stared at it, wondering what he was doing.

"Here," He said extended the filter towards me, "for your asthma. Sokovia can be dusty when it wants, so this should help, yes?" I felt a twinge of something in the pit of my stomach just then, it wasn't an unpleasant feeling but I couldn't place it. I was touched that he even thought about something like that. I didn't even think of it which was really stupid on my part.

"I- uh, thank you Pietro." I said graciously taking the mask, it would only cover the important bits, my mouth and nose but it would certainly do the trick. Tony specially designed these for me and had them stashed all over the Tower and in the jets. Pietro smiled at me, not a smirk like normal, but a real actual smile.

"What is your name?" He asked abruptly enough to startle a laugh out of me. "I mean I know it of course because I have heard the others use it, but I would like introduction." I hadn't even thought of introductions, I already knew their names so the thought had escaped me.

"Sarah Byrd." I replied, he grinned and gripped my hands shaking it lightly.

"Pietro Maximoff. And that is my sister Wanda." I rolled my eyes and took my hand back.

"Yes, I know who you are." I said with less malice than I had been speaking to them with. Being a little more polite wouldn't hurt. He grinned looking pleased with himself and this time he did go sit back in his seat with his sister. Those two were an odd pair. They were trying to kill us not two days ago and now they were being all nice. It was…weird.

Cap didn't start his pep talk until we were about an hour out of Sokovia and the closer we got, the more nervous I became. It like right before running a race in track. In high school when I would get down in the blocks, the waiting would build up so much adrenaline and anxiety. That's how it felt to be sitting on this plane. It was all just building up in anticipation.

"Ultron knows we're coming, odds are we'll be running into heavy fire," My favorite words, "and that's what we signed up for, but the people of Sokovia they didn't. That's why our priority is getting them out. All they want is to live their lives in peace, and that's not going to happen today. But we can do our best to protect them and get the job done. We find out watch Ultron's been building, we find Romanoff, we clear the field and keep the fight between us." Steve paused and stared at the ground for a few beats, it was a bit like our plan in New York. Keep the fighting focused on us, it was our main goal always.

"Ultron thinks we're monsters," I glanced over at Bruce, who gave little reaction, "and that we're what's wrong with the world, but this isn't just about beating him, it's about whether he's right,"

"Maximoff, you go to the police and see if we can get them to help clear the city. Can you do that?" Steve asked.

"Of course." Was Pietro's immediate reply. Steve nodded.

"Wanda, I need to go use your abilities to get the people to leave." Wanda gave him an affirming nod.

"Good, Sarah you keep the people safe as best you can ok? Don't worry about us."

"Of course, but I'll watch out for you guys as-"

"No, just the Sokovians." He commanded firmly, I sighed but gave a nod in agreement. The civilians were the priority, can't argue with that.

"Alright, the rest of will find Ultron and save Nat."


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey! So I took a break from this story for a couple months I think and I just recently started back up again. I really love writing it so I couldn't stay away for much longer. I know my writing isn't perfect but this story is something fun that I like to share with fellow fans. This chapter is shorter than the last but very important. Hope you all enjoy! Please review I love hearing from you guy!**

We landed in Sokovia in the early morning, the sun was barely peeking up over the horizon. It was a calm beauty with the sky painted hues of soft pinks, yellows and blues. But it was a false sense of security. No matter how pretty the sky was, it didn't stop the fact that we were about to enter into battle yet again.

I don't know what it was about today but it just felt unlucky. So far we've been extremely lucky and there was a heavy feeling of dread hanging over us that this time we wouldn't get away untouched.

Clint was able to land us in an empty parking lot towards the south side of the town. The plus of using a small jet like this one is that you could practically land it anywhere. Cap didn't add anything to his pep talk from earlier, so the cabin was filled with a tense silence.

We quickly finished up what needed to be done; strapping on utility belts, tightening shoe laces, syncing our comms, and I secured the filtration mask snuggly over my nose and mouth. When Tony first suggested that he make one I immediately thought WWII gas mask and firmly vetoed that idea. I didn't think the look would exactly scream 'I'm here to help!', but Stark designed a sleek mask that just looked like a flattened white bubble over my mouth. I still think I look ridiculous but it's better than it could have been.

Stepping out of the jet, the first thing I noticed was a huge graffiti Captain America head marked up with I imagine to be Sokovian curse words. Steve let out a sigh and I couldn't help but crack a smile and laugh. It was probably all the stress but the whole thing just tickled me pink and I could not stop laughing. Steve sent me a glare and I raised up my hands in surrender. Hey, Clint and the others are laughing too, why single me out?

"What? I'm just appreciating the local art." I laughed, a grin spreading across my face. My cheeks strained a bit with the expression, it had been a while since I'd used those muscles. The super soldier huffed but just rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, it's wonderful. I can only imagine what it says." Steve replied dryly.

"Well I would translate, but you don't like that kind of language." I teased. Steve made a move to rebuttal but Wanda cut him off.

"The bridge is the main route out." Wanda informed us. Although she didn't comment on the beautiful artwork, I could still see traces of humor on her face.

"We can cover the other roads." Pietro added.

"Aright, let's wake everyone up and get them out of here." Cap commanded. The twins nodded and Pietro took off to start the evacuation. Steve took one last glance at his cartoon depiction and shook his head. As Clint walked past him, he slapped his hand on Cap's shoulder and commented,

"It's not bad." I laughed again and followed Clint into town, leaving Steve with his lovely portrayal.

Thor took off with Vision to locate Ultron and Tony had taken Bruce to go find Natasha before we landed, Stark was able to use Clint's data to track down the red head so they had a pretty good idea where to find her. I was relieved that we knew where she was, but who knows what condition she'll be in once they actually find her.

I sighed. It was the calm before the storm, everything was asleep except for the occasion tweeting of birds already awake for the day. Clint and I had unofficially partnered up for the time being. We were walking together and clearing out buildings where we could. Every once in a while a flash of blue would zip passed followed by a flow of evacuees pouring out of homes. Clint and I would then direct then towards the bridge.

It would have been better to split up and cover more ground, but there an unspoken rule between us that we were going to watch over one another. I was watching Clint because I made myself a promise that he would make it back to Laura. And always thought it was his priority to keep me safe, I think it's because I'm the youngest and remind him of his kids.

Slowly, a steady flow of Sokovians made their way into the streets. Some dressed completely and others just in their pajamas. But almost all wore a disheveled and slightly disgruntled look. That was better than fear and panic though. If we could keep them as calm as possible for as long as possible then we would be golden.

"Do you think we can get them all out in time?" I asked Clint.

"Let's hope so." He replied gruffly fiddling with an arrow head. We made our way to the bridge that led out of the city. It jam packed full of cars and people hurrying to evacuate. They were moving too slowly for my liking. The faster they moved the better chance they had at survival.

Wanda came into view on the other side of the square. She easily stuck out in her red get up and it was hard to miss the streams of red energy coming from her hands. When the brunette woman saw me, she nodded and made her way over.

"This part of the city is clear, Pietro is still working on the northern part." Her blue eyes were wary and a little anxious, but she seemed to be holding up pretty well so far. This was the easy part though.

"Good, this might actually work out." Clint said. And of course as soon as he finished speaking there was a humming in the distance that sounded very similar to a small aircraft quickly approaching. Barton and I shared a look. Here we go, I thought.

I moved closer to the bridge where Cap was standing while Wanda and Clint flanked the sides. The crowds' chatter had died down nervously at the noise and we waited together in anticipation. As the sound got closer it sounded less like a small plane and more like a buzzing. I furrowed my eyebrows and there it was.

In the distance I could see the distinct glint of sun on metal swiftly approaching the town. With a feeling of dread, I realized that Ultron had released his army. My heart rate sped up as Cap flew into action, yelling for people to start running.

The people started screaming and the crowd surged forward, dropping their unnecessary items in favor of running for their lives. I had to jump on top of an abandoned car to avoid being trampled by the townspeople.

I waited until the very last moment I could, pulling in energy before expanding a barrier the size of a tennis court over the evacuees. The robots smashed into it forcefully, whether they were trying to break it down or they didn't have time to move out of the way it didn't matter to me.

"Get off the bridge!" Wanda shouted, pushing people away from the potential hazard. They didn't need to be told twice, like a switch the crowd lurched back towards the city.

I cringed as some of Ultron's bots repeatedly rammed into my shield, it was just one after the other smashing into it with no regard for how many robots got demolished in the process. Out of the corner of my eye I saw one come in from behind a building and straight for a group of citizens, so with one hand I blasted a burst of energy at it causing the machine to break down and fall to the ground. One down, millions more to go.

We should have come up with a better evacuation plan because the way the people had scattered made it impossible for me to protect all of them. I was able to keep a majority out of harm's way with a massive shield but there were a couple dozen that ran in the opposite direction and out of range.

"Wanda, the people!" I yelled pointing the group nearest to her. I was immensely grateful that we had another enhanced to help us out. Immediately she sprinted over to the alleyway where a clump of civilians had ran into. Hot on her trail were a few metal men, I watched in horror as they opened fire on the crowd. But thankfully Wanda manifested a red wall in front of them, blocking the attacks.

"Run!" She told them. The Maximoff girl didn't much experience with barriers so after a few hits, it dropped and they got a shot in at her and she tumbled to the ground with a grunt. Crap. I glanced back at my own shield and found that I was no longer the focus of the robots attack, most of the people had already fled this area. So I let my energy dissolve and took a second to relish in the feeling of it returning to me before I dashed over to Wanda.

She appeared to only be stunned by the shot, I think most of her energy caught the attack before it could damage her. But none the less I encased her in a protective bubble while I summoned a solid ball of energy and hurled it at the robots in front of her, destroying them on contact.

"Thanks." She said catching her breath. I gave her a hand and pulled her up.

"We got to go, this can't be the only place Ultron is focusing his attacks on." Wanda nodded and we ran back towards in the inner city where most of the robots had congregated. I tried not to let the out of focused look in her eyes bother me, but she didn't look good. I didn't think about it too long though because I became preoccupied with a heard of robots trying to kill me.

Robots were spilling out of shops, rooftops and they were even coming up out of the gutters. It's New York all over again. A huge invasion. An overwhelming sense of fear and hopelessness made its way to the surface but I stifled it as best I could. Now was not the time to lose my shit.

Instead I focused on the mission. Protect the Sokovians. It was simple enough to cover the civilians while Steve, Wanda, and Hawkeye took down the robots, but man I forgot how tiring prolonged combat actually was. That was probably the hardest part, the robots went down relatively easily but there was many of them it felt like it was useless to even fight at all.

A string of robots appeared ahead of me, all raising their arms in preparation to fire. I glanced at the barriers I had constructed around random groups of civilians and tried to think of a way to deflect the oncoming personal on slot and still protect the others. I couldn't think fast enough though so I focused on strengthening the barriers and braced for impact but in a bluish gray blur the robots were all dismantled.

"You are good, yes?" Pietro asked and he slid to a halt next to me. His expression serious for once and his hair was a hug windblown mess. It took me a second to respond, my body was still waiting to get shot.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Go check on Wanda she looked like she could use some help." I told him once I snapped out of it. He nodded and zipped off in the direction I had pointed him in.

There was a deep rumble in the ground and I stumbled as the earth shook. An earthquake? Perfect timing, sure why not? The earth split open twenty feet away from me and I created a bridge of energy to fill the gap and catch the unlucky few who were caught on the rift. They scrambled off and managed to scamper back to relative safety.

"What the hell is going on?" I whispered to myself, grabbing on to a street sign to stay standing upright. "Guys update?" I asked into the comms.

"Sokovia is going for a ride." Friday's voice cut over the communications line. My eyes widened, a ride? What kind of ride? A couple of Ultron's robots flew closer to my position, and instead of attacking the started spouting out some crap about how humanity will rise and fall. Honestly it was terrifying but also a little strange. Was there normally this much talking during a fight?

"There's a magnetic field around the city, keeping us up in the air. Sarah do think your electromagnetic energy would be enough to cancel it out?" Tony questioned. An overwhelmed laughed escaped my lips.

"Probably not Stark, and even if I could, we would be free falling." I replied honestly.

"Ah, right. OK new plan…"I waited for him to continue but he didn't say anything more. "I'll get back to with that." I rolled my eyes, very helpful.

A robot crashed into Cap and he flew several yards into a car. I flinched as I heard the air forcibly leave his lungs. We were going nowhere fast. It was all fine and dandy to protect all these people but with no way to get them to the ground, it was a futile effort. Regardless, I fell into an odd pattern. Find civilian under attack, protect civilian, crush robot, get them to safety, repeat…and then repeat some more.

"Cap you got incoming." Tony informed us. Steve groaned and pull himself into a sitting position.

"Incoming already came." I watched Wanda leading a boy into an alleyway and noticed that she hadn't seen the robots heading after her. Rushing forward, I ran to cover her, but Clint fired an arrow and beat me to it. The boy ran into a building and away from the immediate action so I turned to head back out but half a dozen robots appeared up above blocking the way.

"Go, go, go!" Clint shouted as he pushed Wanda into an abandoned building. The robots moved in after them so I shielded the entryway, preventing them from getting to my teammates. They hid in there for a few moments, I'm guessing they hadn't noticed my barrier yet. I ballooned it around us until it completely covered the building as I waited for the two to get their acts together.

Any day now Barton.

As if on cue, Clint barreled out of the door and I dropped the shield so he could get a clean shot in at the robots. He yanked me down behind a car as an explosive flew past us. We shared a look, we both knew we were in way over our heads. But Clint looked fine so far, despite a few cuts and bruises here and there but otherwise unharmed.

Wanda then burst out of the dilapidated doors and with little effort she destroyed the remaining robots as Barton and I watched in fascination. Her red energy was flying around in the air, manipulating the metal men and destroying them. Clint and Wanda shared a nod and Wanda smiled a bit, I suddenly had the feeling that I was out of the loop on something. Then a streak of gray ran between us causing my ponytail to whip my face.

"Keep up old man." Came Pietro's voice as he promptly snatched up his sister and sped away. I smirked but then remembered that no one could see it because of the filter I had on. Clint huffed in annoyance and drew back his bow and arrow.

"No one would know." He muttered as he aimed in the direction that the Maximoffs had just left. "Nobody…" I rolled my eyes as he released the tension in his weapon and restocked his arrow.

"Clint." I chided stepping over a fallen door. The archer started running down the street, doing his best to avoid the rubble.

"Hey last we saw him, Ultron was sitting on him. Yeah he'll be missed, quick little bastard. I miss him already." Clint joked. I laughed and ran alongside him. That was another reason I hung around Clint, he was funnier than the others.

I met up with Cap and Wanda, and walked with them to the town hall while Clint did a sweep around a row of abandoned buildings. A good portion of the citizens were redirected here once the bridge had been compromised. Pietro was missing from the group so he must have dropped Wanda and gone off on his own.

The city looked awful, it resembled a war zone more now than a bustling town. Walls were caved in, there were fallen trees and there was a heavy haze of dust and smoke hanging over. I sent a quick prayer in thanks of the filtration mask.

There was a lull in the fighting at the moment and more than anything I hoped the dusk clouds stayed where they were. They made it more difficult to see where I was walking and while that was annoying but it also helped hide the bloodied bodies that littered the ground. I did my best to ignore them for now and promised myself that I would deal with the emotional trauma later. That, however, didn't stop the bile from rising up in my throat.

"Avengers, we're leading civilians to the town hall, try and meet us there." I heard Steve say both in person and over the communication device to the absent team members. The Sokovian people were rushing indoors but Cap lead us around to the side of the building underneath a crumbling pavilion.

It was minute, but I could feel the air thinning as our flying city rose higher and higher. It wasn't a problem right now, but give it time and I would have to find an evacuation route, or an oxygen tank.

That line of thinking was quickly dropped when a familiar read head came into view.

"Natasha!" I exclaimed in relief. She shot me a grin and said,

"Hey kiddo, long time no see. Rogers." I rushed over to her and threw my arms around her shoulders. Natasha wasn't usually one for hugging, but she gave me a couple good pats on the back.

"Romanoff." Steve acknowledged.

"Are you OK? What happened? Where's Bruce?" Nat laughed a little at all my questions.

"I'm fine, he just kept me locked up. And he hulked out so he's somewhere." She said waving her hand around vaguely. Nat's eyes moved passed us and landed on Wanda. Her eyebrow lifted.

"Is that my jacket?" Wanda awkwardly looked down at the red leather jacket she had swiped from the tower.

"She's with us now." Steve replied avoiding the question. Nat had a thing about others messing with her stuff.

"Still doesn't explain my jacket." Tasha rebuked with a scowl.

"Fighting these robots is getting us nowhere." Clint intervened walking to stand next to his partner. His face was as blank as always but his relaxed stance betrayed his relief at seeing Tasha alive and well. "The air's getting thin, if we go up much higher people will start dropping." I stared at the ground stubbornly as I felt my teammates glance at me.

"Hey, Nat. Long time no see." Clint added.

"Hey, that's my line." She said bumping his arm with her elbow. "So what's the situation?"

"There are people in the city still hiding." Wanda said worriedly. Steve nodded in affirmation and told her,

"Get em out. Barton watch her six." Clint gave Nat a reassuring grin before taking off after the Sokovian girl leaving the three us behind.

"Now what?" Nat asked striding closer to us. I couldn't help but smile at her again, I was so happy she was back.

"We fight robots." Steve instructed plainly. Natasha grinned and whipped out her electrified batons. A gush of wind blew past me, pulling loose some blonde strands from my hair tie and Pietro appeared holding up a severed metal arm.

"Today? We fight robots today?" He said excitedly, he was all hyped up and energized like he running on pure adrenaline. Where was he getting this energy? The rest of us looked like sluggish senior citizens in comparison.

"Or is next month better for you?" Pietro teased sarcastically before tossing the arm at Cap.

"We get it, we're slow." I said drolly while rolling my eyes, suddenly feeling more energized myself. The speedster smirked and sent me a wink as he flashed away. He was so annoying.

The robots just kept coming. No matter how many we destroyed they just kept coming back like cockroaches. Steve told us that the next wave was going to hit any minutes and I wasn't sure if I would be able to keep this up. My body was tired at this point whatever energy I had earlier was gone now.

And I didn't have enough stamina to reign in my supernatural energy either, it was just floating around me in little translucent wisps. And of course, my stomach still felt like it was on fire. Those pain pills puttered out in a pitiful amount of time.

"Do you see the beauty of it? The inevitability? You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, you are my meteor." I whipped around and stared at one of Ultron's bots. I was getting really tired of all the monologue-ing really fast. "My swift and terrible sword and the Earth will crack with the weight of your failure. Purge me from your computers; turn my own flesh against me." Hawkeye shot the drone that was babbling incessantly about our destruction and it fell to the ground, only to have another one takes its place.

"It means nothing! When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world, will be metal!" The robot declared before I effectively obliterated it angrily with one quick swipe of energy.

"Can you believe this guy? It's like he's never going to shut u-" Clint's words were cut off by a huge explosion that went off so close to me I was blown back several feet. It had come as a huge surprise, I wasn't able to protect myself.

I slammed into the ground and I felt rather than heard the whoosh of air as it was crushed out of my lungs. I gasped and painfully tried to suck in large gulps of air. If I could, I would have cried out. I wouldn't be able to hear it anyway, there was a loud ringing in my ears that blocked out everything else.

I attempted to sit up but my arms gave out as a wave of vertigo passed through me. Vaguely I noticed the building I had been standing next was up in flames.

A pairs of hands hoisted me up jerkily and it took a couple seconds to register that I had been moved into an abandoned building. I blinked my eyes quickly, trying to clear the debris from them but my eyes were having trouble refocusing. All I could do was gasp like a fish out of water until I recovered and pray that this didn't trigger and asthma attack.

It was dark in the room and I could just barely make out a humanoid figure. Out of fear and without rationality I tried to stand up and defend myself, but a hand shoved my shoulders back onto the floor.

There was a flurry of motions in front of my face and it took me longer than it should have to recognize that Clint was waving his hands around. Why was he doing that? He was mouthing something to me but I couldn't quite make out the words, I've never been a good lip reader.

"What?" I rasped. I wasn't sure if he heard me or not so I tried to speak louder. Clint's grey eyes widened and he slapped a hand over my mouth. What was he doing?! He brought a single finger up to his lips and shook his head. Oh, he wants me to be quiet, I realized dumbly.

Clint started waving his hands again in odd motions and with a foggy mind I tried to make sense of it. Tears of frustration welled up in my eyes, I had no idea what he was trying to do! I just wanted to be able to hear something other than this awful ringing!

Clint stopped what he was doing and made the motion for calm down. Something made him jump and he looked around warily again before relaxing. Then slowly he started moving his hands again and his mouth simultaneously. My breathing was starting to even out again so I could concentrate enough to just make out,

"Can you hear anything?" In sign language. Of course! That makes complete sense, the blast took out my hearing and Clint knows that I speak sign language. Wow, that explosion must have taken out some brain cells along with my hearing. Shakily I responded.

"No, just a ringing in my ears." Barton nodded and messed with my belt for a couple seconds.

"It's not permanent, your hearing will come back." He reassured me and I exhaled in relief. Clint helped pull me up into a sitting position and uncap my inhaler. Oh, duh.

"Can you do this by yourself?" I nodded and took it from him. I had forgotten that I had my inhaler with me. Stark had an extra one at the Tower and had given it to me on the flight over. After breathing in the medicine deeply my lungs started to feel much better.

"This area has cleared out for now, are you good to go back to the others?" He signed.

"I'll be ok, my hearing is getting better. I'll get back to you on the nausea though." Clint watched me for a few more seconds debating whether or not it was ok to let me head back out. He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts and offered me a hand. I let him pull me up and we made our way back outside.

"Stay close, I'll be your ears for right now."

"Oh, good. The deaf leading the deaf." If there wasn't a possibility of me having a concussion, I was positive Clint would have slapped the back of my head.

The sun was high above us, or was it? It was hard to tell with all the clouds and dust obstructing our view. Well, wherever the sun was, it was definitely later in the morning, probably almost noon. Clint left me with Steve and Natasha while he went to go check in on Wanda.

Apparently Tony started to explain his plan, Nat had to translate. I wasn't aware that she knew sign language until today. Given her motions were a lot clumsier than Clint, she did the job. The plan didn't sound (no pun intended) too great, it involved blowing up the city. But so far it was the only plan we had.

Cap repeated that he wanted a solution, not an escape plan. But Stark explained that the impact radius was getting bigger every second. I could feel the air getting thinner, we were definitely getting up there.

"Cap these people are getting nowhere." Natasha reminded, even though she was signing this my hearing was good enough that I could understand her. I grimaced, we definitely couldn't blow this thing up if civilians were still on it. But Stark had said that the impact radius was getting wider and wider the longer we were up here. What was us up here compared to all those lives down there?

"There's worse ways to go." Tears stung at the corners of my eyes at how inevitable it all felt, she wasn't wrong. Nat looked out at the clouds that we were now floating above, "Where else am I gunna get a view like this?" A sad chuckled worked its way up and Nat sent me a smile, one that I returned, not that she could see through my mask though.

She was right of course. What better way to go out than to be with friends and saving the world.

"Glad you like the view Romanoff, it's about to get better." Fury's voce cut in, now that I heard loud and clear! Startled I glanced around, looking for the one eyed man. I didn't have to look much further than the enormous helicarrier rising up from the clouds. A bubble of joy and relief settled in my stomach, now they were getting somewhere!

"Nice right?" Fury said as if reading our minds, "Pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do." Ha 'she'll do'? Like he doesn't know how perfect this is.

"Fury you son of a bitch." Cap commented, voice laced with relief.

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" I teased him, earning a halfhearted glare. Nat sent me a started look, but I signed that I could hear pretty well now.

"You're never gunna live that one down Stevey-boy." Natasha informed him. I watched giddily as the helicarrier released dozens of boats that headed directly to the floating city, ready to evacuate the Sokovian people.

"This is SHIELD?" Pietro asked in amazement. I jumped a bit, I hadn't even seen him.

"This is what SHIELD is supposed to be." Cap informed him proudly, his tired expression smoothing out. Pietro nodded and with a smile he added,

"This is no so bad." No, not bad at all. Now all we had to do was get everyone on the ship and destroy the city. Easy peasy.

I glanced over at the Sokovian and frowned when I saw his bloodied arm.

"You got shot?" I asked with my eyebrows raised. He peered down at me and then at his arm before shrugging.

"It was accident." I scoffed at this.

"I certainly hope so. I thought you were too fast to get shot?" I added. Again he shrugged and sent me grin.

"I was distracted by a beautiful girl." Rolling my eyes I snorted. Leave it to a guy to get shot because he was checking out some chick.

"Poor girl." I commented, earning an even wider grin. The speedster leaned down closer to me.

"I was talking about you." He informed me, smirking as my cheeks heated up. Was that comment really necessary?

"Oh." Was the most intelligent thing I could come up with. I was grateful that my mask covered most of my face, hopefully I could find a burlap sack to stick over my head so I could just hide my embarrassment easier.

"Alright you two, let's load 'em up." Steve said, thankfully stopping me from embarrassing myself any further.

 **Hope you all liked it! Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Here's another chapter guys! Hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. Please review!**

"Avengers. Time to work for a living." Stark told us, calling for everyone to head to the church. Pietro ran up next me when I made a move to take a truck that was abandoned on the road.

"Need a lift?" He asked. I raised an eyebrow at this.

"Oh, you're asking this time?" I sassed, referring to his habit of manhandle others. The silver haired man smirked.

"Is that a no, because you can always walk?" My face scrunched up at the idea of walking all the way there, I didn't think I could walk to the end of the street my feet felt so heavy.

"Or I could just take this truck instead."

"Eh, that is much too slow." I wanted to argue more because I didn't particularly like being picked up by what most would consider a stranger. But he was right, the faster we got there the better.

"Alright, let's go." I conceded, awkwardly letting him scoop me up, he hooked an arm under my knees and the other around my shoulders, pressing my head down on his shoulder so I wouldn't get whiplash. I closed my eyes, not wanting to watch the world spin and in a couple seconds he set me down on the concrete. I stumbled some so I rested a hand on his arm to regain my balance as my body caught up. I waited for the vertigo to make another appearance but it stayed back for the moment.

"You good?" He asked. I nodded and looked over towards Thor, Stark, and Vision who were already battling it out with some stray robots inside the broken down church. They weren't having any problems getting rid of them, easily breaking through them likes they were made of tin foil. Steve then flew out of nowhere and smashed the remaining robot into a useless pile of scraps.

Quickly I looked over my team members for injury, sighing in relief when I saw nothing life threatening. I wouldn't say we looked perfect, more like a rag tag team of misfits who've been roughing it in the wild for weeks, fighting off the local animals for survival. But again, we were alive.

Wanda ran and met up with Pietro her brown hair flying behind her wildly. Pietro rested a hand on his sister worriedly once he took in her haggard appearance. She looked ok, there was a new resolve in her eyes that reassured me that her previous hesitance was gone.

"Are you good?" The concern evident on his face, she nodded and place a hand briefly on his arm, checking his bullet wound which had stopped bleeding for the time being.

"Yeah." She replied, slightly out of breath. With a moment of peace I unlatched my inhaler from my belt and pulled my mask down my chin so I could get a good breath in. I closed my eyes at the relieving feeling that came with my medicine. My lungs sill felt strained from all the activity and of course getting the wind knocked out of me. But I was doing ok.

"Romanoff, you and Banner better not be playing hide the zucchini." Stark joked crudely when the pair didn't immediately arrive at the church.

"Relax, shell-head. Not all of us can fly." Came Nat's unimpressed response. It was difficult to gage how Tony was doing, his suit was a little banged up but nothing looked serious. Same with the Hulk, no missing limbs so I guess he was just fine.

Ultron didn't make us wait too long before he flew into view, just outside of the stone pavilion/church we were standing in. To my dismay he looked completely unharmed while the rest of us appeared to have wallowed in the dirt with the pigs. That's fine, it's completely comforting when the bad guy doesn't have a scratch on him after hours of fighting.

"Is that the best you can do?" Thor roared at the metal man. I wanted to smack myself in the head, who asks those kinds of things at a time like this? And where had he and Vision been this whole time? Seriously, it felt like he had just been completely absent most of the day. Sure I had heard him occasionally on the radio but it felt like our paths hadn't crossed once since we got here. Yes, I know they had been fighting Ultron but it was just odd to not see them once.

Ultron raised a hand, signaling for the rest of his awaiting army to spring forward. A sea of silver raged towards us, appearing out of the woodwork. Well, that's just great. Quickly, I stored my inhaler away and pulled my mask back up. The robots stopped a few paces away from us, waiting for Ultron's command to move forward.

"You had to ask." Steve said tiredly dropping into a fighting stance.

"I'll take that candy now Pietro." I said eyes wide with fear as I took in the sheer enormity of Ultron's army. Without taking his gaze off the army of robots he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of hard candy that he had stolen back in South Africa, wordlessly passing it to me.

"This, is the best I can do." Ultron commented smugly. "This is exactly what I wanted. All of you, against all of me." His metal voice said, gesturing vaguely in our direction, "How can you possibly hope to stop me?" And with that the metal army surged forward.

"Protect the key!" Steve yelled springing into action. If the robots got the key in the middle of the church, then we'd be toast. Or rubble, either way we would hurdling back towards the ground. Immediately I created a dome around the key and prepared to defend it with my life. I didn't have time to watch in awe as the team pulled together as if we were a fluid machine, but in the back of my mind I made note of how incredible this all seemed. A few years ago, I never would have dreamed about a team of superheroes fighting together to save the world. That was the stuff of fantasy and movies. But now that was my life.

Anytime robot broke through our defense line I released a damaging pulse of energy that destroyed them before they got too close. And if they got past me, they weren't able to break through my shield. I smirked when one robot rammed itself so roughly into my barrier that it crumbled into scraps showering little pieces of metal in my direction. They were like hell bent kamikazes.

One bot came up from behind, blindsiding me. It knocked me off my feet and before I got the chance to stand back up another robot snatched me up and knocked me against a pillar jostling my still sore abdomen and head. I let out a pained cry as the grip around my throat threatened to fracture my trachea as the robot held me up against the pillar.

Thankfully, Vision flew by and hauled the robot away before it could do any real damage. Good thing too, I was starting to see little black dots. I landed on my feet, but the fall was higher than I was used to and I felt my ankle give. It didn't break, but it would probably be black and blue in the morning….assuming I made it to then. With a grunt, I rolled to the side and dodged a free flying piece of metal bashed a robot that came a little too close for comfort.

I lunged forward to avoid a falling robot and released a stream of energy to relieve Tony from the hoard of robots that had surrounded him. Then Wanda knocked out one that had flown right towards my head. Without waiting for a thank you, the Sokovian witch moved on to assist Clint fight off a couple bot crawling their way up the pavilion walls.

I shot up and raced to help Natasha get rid of one bot that was particularly persistent. The red head jumped on top of its shoulders and strangled it with her electrified wire, and when I came close I sent a jolt of energy through it to fry its systems. Nat gracefully pulled herself from the robot and then whipped out a pistol to shoot some unseen enemy behind me. I nodded to her in appreciation and then jumped in a fight with Cap.

All the while I was maintaining the shield around key.

The battle continued on much of the same. One of us would get knocked down, then another team member would come to the rescue and someone else would cover them. Time seemed irrelevant because it felt like we had been fighting for days but in reality that wasn't the case. I wanted to take a breather for a second, the air was getting thinner, my legs and arms burned from all the strain. But that wasn't an option.

I could barely make out the blurred form of Pietro as he weaved through the sea of robots, he was almost impossible to keep track of. The only way I knew he was there was if he paused long enough to be seen or if a robot randomly dropped dead in front of me.

And Thor was impressive as ever, wielding his hammer so easily and effortlessly striking down opponents with bolts of lightning. The power that emanated off of him was intense but it was reassuring instead of oppressive.

It was a godsend when Vision was able to blast Ultron out of the crumbling pavilion and he, Stark, and Thor rushed outside after him. The three of them ganged up on Ultron and simultaneously blasted them with everything they had. The trio bared down on the metal man, melting some of the vibranium off of his skull in a very Indiana Jones fashion, bringing him to his knees. When they finally relented Ultron staggered into a standing position and said,

"You know with the benefit of hindsight…" There was a monstrous roar and Hulk cut off Ultron and hit him so hard that he sailed out sight like the bad guys in cartoons. I cringed, brushing a hand over my stomach, remembering just how hard of a swing Hulk had.

Vision followed Ultron in a hot pursuit, most likely to make sure that he gone for good. This left the rest of us to mill around the church uselessly. Tiredly, I flicked my wrist in the general direction of the key and dropped the barrier around it, watching as my energy flickered out of sight. With a huge sigh, I slumped down onto one of the steps and stretched my sore ankle out in front of me.

Things were quiet for a couple minutes as we caught our breaths. It was eerily silent with only our heavy breathing and some feet shuffling to break it up. Wanda leaned against a wall for support and closed her eyes letting the weary expression fall from her face. The others fared pretty similar; Clint and Nat hung onto each other for support, and even Thor's chest was moving up and down quickly to compensate for the loss of oxygen. To put it simply, we looked rough.

"We gotta move out. Even I can tell the airs getting thin." Steve said to us, still puffing from exertion. His skin seemed three shades darker with all the dirt and dust stuck to it.

"You're telling me." I grumbled, struggling to not draw attention to how short of breath I was. Steve sent me an apologetic look and continued.

"You guys get to the boats. I'll sweep for stragglers. Be right behind you." He informed us, nobly taking the position to stay behind.

"What about the core?" Clint asked gesturing towards the key, I noticed he was subtly favoring his leg. I looked over at the key, it was still a danger to us if we couldn't get out of the city on time.

"I'll stay." I suggested, standing up and hobbling towards the core on my stiff ankle. It made sense, I could easily keep it safe and with no one else around I could focus solely on this.

"Sarah no, the air's getting too thin. I can tell you're having problems." Cap said firmly causing me to frown. I hated when they mentioned my asthma like I didn't know how to handle it. And I was doing fine thank you very much!

"I'll be fine." I defended, even though I knew he had a point. But it just didn't feel right about leaving anyone else here when I could easily do it myself.

"I'll protect it." Wanda offered, she was already standing directly next to the core. "It's my job." I saw Hawkeye nod approvingly and he walked over to me and grabbed my upper arm gently.

"Come on kiddo. Quit trying to be a martyr." He said leading me out of the crumbling space.

"I'm not trying to be a martyr! That would suggest that I plan on dying." I complained, scowling at Clint's word choice.

"Sure, sure." He replied dismissively, "Nat?" Clint called out gesturing for her to come with. The three of us trudged to an abandoned car that still worked and Nat helped Clint and me into the car.

It was eerie driving through a deserted city, there were fallen buildings, mangled robots and sadly dead citizens. Oddly enough, I didn't have the usual pit in my heart that tugged at my tears when I saw dead people. I guess I was so physically and mentally exhausted that I couldn't work up much a response as I had before.

I leaned back and rested my head on the seat. It didn't feel like it was over yet, maybe this was just a lull before Ultron's back up army came in and he appeared in a new body ready to go. Clint and Nat seemed pretty relaxed at the moment, so maybe we were in the clear. Then again, they were spies so they could be faking it.

Clint brought the car to an abrupt halt, throwing it in park. There were Sokovians filling to the rescue ships but it looked like they were the last of them. The other boats had already pulled away, this was probably the only one left.

"We don't have a lot of time." Clint pointed out.

"So get your ass on a boat." Nat told him as it were obvious, which it was. The red head hopped out of the vehicle, and helped me limp my way over to Clint who grabbed hold of my arm again. "I'll be back, I'm gunna find Bruce." She informed us before sprinting off. Where did she get the energy to do that? It made me tired just watching her.

"Alright, let's get you on a boat." He placed my arm over his shoulder and supported most of my weight to take the pressure off of my ankle. We made an awkward pair, both had our walking in paired by some injury or another so getting to the boat took a painful amount of time. When all of this was said and done I'm gunna look like how a punching bag feels…well I feel that way too. I should have taken more meds earlier.

We were the last ones to load up, SHIELD agents and local policemen helped us aboard and I couldn't wait to plop down in one of those cushy looking chairs and sleep for days.

"Costel!" A young women screeched in fear. Clint and I whipped around towards the noise, ready to jump into action yet again. I saw a little boy around ten, maybe younger huddled on the ground on the other side of the street. Barton huffed and hesitated for a moment before he let go of me and took off to retrieve the boy. He was probably thinking about his own son. Alright just this one last hurdle and then we could go home.

It was then that a rogue jet appeared in the sky, that's odd I thought that SHIELD had already pulled back its forces to the helicarrier. Then it began shooting a stream of bullets down getting closer and closer to Clint and the boy with each second. Ultron, I realized fearfully as my heart dropped to my stomach. No. no, no, no, no, no, no this couldn't be happening! We were so close!

"Clint!" I screamed as I tried to warn him, but it was too late he had nowhere to go. The archer turned his back on the heavy fire in an attempt to shield the boy. My heart stopped as I saw a grey streak heading towards the pair and I remembered that Pietro isn't always fast enough to dodge bullets. No more accidents, I thought as I rushed forward on my damaged ankle, hoping I would be quick enough. The policemen tried to hold me back from leaving the boat, but I harshly pushed them aside with a wall of energy, they could forgive me later.

There was another scream from behind me, no doubt the girl who had originally cried out for the boy, and thrust my arms out in front of me, feeling as the energy in body flew away from me faster than it ever had before. It was disorienting to say the least.

I looked on in bated horror as I waiting for the dust to clear. I had felt the bullets hit my shield but was it enough? Was my barrier even enough to withstand a high powered assault weapon right now? My abdomen felt as if it were tearing from the strain I was putting it through because of my outstretched position, and even though I wasn't balanced directly on my ankle, with my current weakness I felt myself faltering. My breathing was rough and haggard and the thin air finally began to catch up with me. But it was all worth it when I saw the boys safely wrapped in a translucent bubble of energy.

Ultron didn't attempt to attack us again, instead using our stunned selves as an opportunity to high tail it out of there. I waited until he was far enough away to drop the protective covering around the boys when I felt it was safe. But the recoil of energy slapped me so hard I collapsed, not into unconsciousness, just onto the ground.

Or at least I would have, but Pietro had zipped over and caught me. Gingerly he scooped me up like before and peered down at me, the concern plastered on his face.

"You were supposed to get on the boat." He scolded, I could tell though he was only worried. He was one to talk! He should have been on the boat already too!

"No, my job was to protect the Sokovians," I wheezed out, "you're from Sokovia aren't you?" I explained practically. Pietro laughed and I could feel it shaking though my body, it hurt a little.

"Yes, well you are going on the boat now. I have to go back and get Wanda."

"No need." Clint commented as he walked up beside us carrying the boy like a fireman. "Vision picked her up, she's on a separate life boat." Pietro nodded, relief emanating off of him and eagerly moved onto the boat.

"I leave you guys for ten minutes…" Steve said coming up behind us, disbelief etched on his features. I gave him a weak smile that he couldn't see and Clint just shrugged nonchalantly. The archer set the boy down when we got closer and the kid ran to a crying blonde woman.

"You can put me down now, it's making your arm bleed again." I told Pietro as he walked us on board but he shook his head.

"My arm is fine, you are not and…" He started, "we are here. See no harm done." He finished setting me down onto a chair across from Clint. I sighed as I relaxed down in to the seat, not bothering to argue that actually there was harm done because his arm was bleeding again. Pietro slumped down next to me and stretched out his long legs in front of him. They were vibrating slightly and twitching every now and then, I guess it was a side effect from overuse.

He was sitting so close our arms were touching, my lithe one against his boulder of an arm. I pulled out my inhaler and quickly sucked in a couple puffs for good measure, absentmindedly I took note that I would have to get a refill soon. I didn't bother to put the filter mask back on and tossed it on the seat next to me.

"It's been a long day." Clint muttered as he laid down across the bench, he looked like he could pass out any second now. A 'long day' was putting it mildly. Was it possible for today to be worse than the attack on New York?

Steve was talking quietly with some of the officers, about what I didn't know. Whatever it was, it ended with a couple laughs and pats on the back before Steve moved into a seat and settled down.

I could hear the curious murmurs of the Sokovian refugees but they respectfully didn't approach us, instead keeping to themselves and chatting quietly. It's not like I would have been able to understand them anyway, I should probably learn Sokovian. I'll put that on my to-do list for later, I thought sleepily. I closed my eyes and allowed myself a moments' rest.

"Wake me up if something happens." I muttered to Pietro. When he didn't respond immediately, I peeked an eye open and found that he was slumped in his seat fast asleep. A small smirk worked its way on my face and leaning back I fell asleep too.

* * *

"Hey, wake up." There was poking sensation on my cheek and I made an agitated noise before shifting closer to the wall I was leaning against. I didn't want to get up yet, I think I was too tired to even open my eyes at this point.

"No, no more sleep. Wake up." The poking continued and I sleepily smacking the hand away.

"Sarah, if you want to snuggle up to the Maximoff boy you can do it when we get to the debriefing room." I recognize the voice as belonging to Clint and slowly cracked an eye open. Barton was standing in front of me, his arms crossed as he waited for me to get up.

"What?" I asked groggily rubbing my abused cheek. I glimpsed to my left and saw Pietro grinning down at me.

"Comfortable?" He snickered.

"Shut up." I mumbled as I lifted my head off his shoulder. "What's going on?"

"We dropped off the civilians on the ground at the refugee camp SHIELD's setting up and we just landed on the helicarrier deck." Clint explained.

"Oh, ok." I replied fatigued.

"Come on kiddo, let's get moving." Clint held out his hand and hauled me up. I hissed in pain when I put pressure on my bad ankle forgetting that it was injured.

"Why does nobody else seemed to be hurt?" I grumbled gingerly tapping my foot on the ground to test its limits. I don't know why I said that, obviously the other members had sustained injuries, I was just a baby that couldn't handle a little pain and had to complain.

"I got shot remember." Pietro piped up pointing to his arm. I hummed a response glaring at the offending appendage. It had stopped bleeding, and with his enhanced metabolism the wound was probably close to being healed.

"Yeah, yeah let's get a move on, the faster we do this the faster I can grab a sandwich and go to sleep." Clint interjected placing his hand on the small of his back, popping the spine into place. "Will you be good to walk?" He asks eyeing my ankle.

"Depends how far we have to go." I shrugged, I could feel it starting to swell. We should hurry up so I can get some ice and elevate it.

"I can carry you." Pietro offered looking like he was trying to stifle another smile.

"Ah, ah, ah." Clint interjected stepping between the two of us and moving Pietro a couple feet away. "No touchy, touchy Maximoff." The Sokovian smirked but held his hands up in mock surrender. I rolled my eyes at Barton's antics.

We shuffled along the deck, trudging slowly with Clint once again helping me. He wasn't limping too much anymore so maybe he had just rolled it a little bit. Pietro hadn't dashed ahead yet so even all his energy had a limit then, I noticed smugly.

There were agents hustling around, some glancing at us curiously but like on the boat no one approached just yet. Well all except for the med team. They brought out a wheelchair and I immediately protested.

"Barton if you make me get in that thing-"

"You'll what?" He teased back cutting off my empty threat before I could think of something good enough to say.

"I already feel like an invalid as is." I pouted hoping he would take pity on me. Clint smirked and shoved me down into the chair, taking it from the agent.

"Welcome to my world." He grumbled. I gave a short laugh even though I wasn't happy about been carted around. Not that I would admit it, but I was kinda relieved that I could relax a little.

"So what happens now?" Pietro asked, warily watching the agents walking beside us.

"Fury has ordered for us to bring you straight to the briefing room, no stops." One of them answered.

"Not even to go to the bathroom? I've been holding in for hours." I groaned. Clint grinned tiredly and patted my shoulder.

"Well dear, I told you to go before we left." Clint tutted. Pietro was being oddly silent, he had a frown on his face but it looked more like he was masking nervousness. It reminded me of my first time walking onto a SHIELD base where everything was big and new and intimidating.

"Where's Steve?" I asked finally realizing that he hadn't gotten off the boat with us. I became a lot less observant the more exhausted I was.

"He left as soon as we landed on the carrier, wanted to talk to Fury about something before we all met back up."

"Oh." Didn't that guy ever take a break?

The agents led us down the twists and turns of the vaguely familiar halls. I hadn't been on one of these since 2012, but everything looked relatively the same. They took us up to one of the upper decks and led us into a room that I knew all too well. It was the debriefing room we had used during the Battle of New York.

Clint waved off the agents and pushed us through the door. I leapt from the wheelchair ignoring my aching body when I saw Thor standing in one piece.

"You're safe!" I exclaimed scrambling over to the man before throwing my arms around his necks hugging him close to me. He hunched downwards awkwardly to compensate for the height difference between us so I didn't have to stand on my tip toes.

"Yes, Lady Sarah I am alive and well." Thor proclaimed happily. "You saw me only half an hour ago, were you truly that worried for my wellbeing?"

"I'm always worried about y'alls wellbeing." The Asgardian patted my head affectionately and I squeezed him tighter. I didn't realize just how worried I was until I saw him here, in this room. It just brought everything home because everything just screamed New York.

"I'm just glad you're ok." I confessed. I pulled back a little just so I was able to pepper his cheeks with kisses not caring that they were covered in sweat, dirt and blood. Thor gave me a huge smile and he beamed at the attention.

"Hey, I'm fine too. Where are my kisses?" Stark asked as he sauntered/limped into the room void of his Iron Man suit. I laughed and wiped the tears away from my eyes as I detached myself from Thor.

"Sorry, Stark none for you." I teased. Tony pouted a little, I laughed lightly and made my way over to give him a peck on the cheek. He looked tired and he had raccoon eyes, and his wrinkles were more pronounced.

Barton had found his way to a chair and had his head buried in his arms as he attempted to block out the lights. Pietro was anxiously pacing at a typically normal speed, but it was so slow for him it was obvious he was exhausted.

"I'm glad you're safe too Tony." Stark grinned and leaned back in his chair happily.

"Sarah, you should sit down." Clint instructed kicking out a seat for me. "You look awful." He added with a small grin. I snorted and slowly lowered myself down.

"It's a wonder why you have a wife, Barton." I tossed at him even though I followed his suggestion.

"Where are the others?" I inquired looking around the rest of the room and noticing absent team members.

"Present." Nat claimed as she trudged into the room, followed closely by Vision and Wanda. I smiled happily at the sight of my relatively unharmed teammate.

"Wanda!" Pietro breathed in relief as he sped to his sister's side. He cupped her cheek and kissed her forehead tenderly, I looked away from the intimate scene giving the twins their privacy. I watched Nat take a seat next to Clint, he gave her a once over but she waved away his concerns with a quick, "I'm fine."

Vision glided around the room sticking to the outskirts instead of directly interacting with the team. He kept his face cleared of emotion but I could feel the nervous energy coming off of him. It was the same energy that the Maximoffs were exerting now. They had chosen to sit at the other side of the table as far away as they could be without leaving the vicinity and were speaking softly to one another in Sokovian. Wanda looked exhausted, her dark eye makeup was smudged into rings around her eyes and she was littered with little cuts and bruises that matched the rest of the team.

The space was filled with a quiet hum as we all had the chance to finally relax, whatever it was that Fury had to tell he better hurry before we all pass out. I really needed to go to the bathroom, and get some water, and some food. And a shower. That'd be nice.

The after battle feeling was one of the most peaceful yet chaotic sensations that I've ever felt. You feel relieved that everything turned out ok, that you survived, and that your friends were still alive. Then there's the feeling of elation that you won and that you saved all these people. Which then brings a huge feeling of accomplishment.

But the comfort you feel gets muddied and tarnished by the incredible sadness and loss and guilt you feel for all of the people who you couldn't protect, those you couldn't save. I think there's a name for that…survivor's guilt. You see the happy faces of the civilians you were able to reunite with their families but you also hear the screams of agony of the dying.

On top of that, the withdrawal from adrenaline beats down on your already exhausted and weary body. It's a miracle that I was able to even to drum up enough energy to stay awake. Not to mention the strain that fighting puts on my respiratory system. I couldn't count the number of times I had to duck behind a building for a few minutes to pull it together. I was trying to not to think too much at the moment, if I got too overwhelmed it could trigger an attack and in my current pathetic state I couldn't begin to fathom how detrimental that would be.

"So I'm thinking we skip the shawarma this time." Natasha said casually.

"As long as we eat, I don't really care." Clint replied, not moving his head from its placement on his arms.

"I was rather looking forward to feasting upon the shawarma from New York." Thor commented, looking glum at the change of plans.

"What is shawarma?" Pietro asked appearing mildly interested.

"It's a sandwich, you can get it as a wrap too, but it's a Middle Eastern food. It's good." Clint informed him.

"I thought it was Mediterranean?" Tasha asked conversationally. Clint shrugged.

"I looked it up and it said Middle Eastern."

"You looked it up?" Nat said in amusement.

"Hey I was bored, sue me."

"Why do you need to have this shawarma?" Wanda asked curiously.

"It's kinda tradition now, Tony usually orders it to the tower after we have missions." I answered. "I think Bruce said something about getting sushi next time though."

A thought occurred to me suddenly, not everyone was all accounted for. My head whipped up from where I as laying on my arms on the table and my eyes darted around the room frantically.

"Where's Bruce?" The others blearily looked up at me but I focused on Natasha whose face was too passive for it to be a good thing. The last she said before we separated was that she as going to go get him, but the awkward doc wasn't here.

"Nat?" I prompted my blood pumping hard in my vein anxiously. She said she was going to get him before we got on the boat. So where was he? "You said you were going to get him right before we left."

The Russian met my eyes briefly before settling on the table. I swallowed nervously. There was an easy answer for this, something simple.

"He's just in the bathroom or something right?" I didn't know what was so bad that she couldn't give me an answer. My heart dropped as I came to the realization that Bruce didn't make. But that wasn't possible! My breathing headed towards the hyperventilation side as my mind began to whirl with depressed emotion.

"Is he dead?" I cried placing a hand at the base of my neck, as tears blurred my vision. And the easy going feeling from earlier whittled out. The rest of my team stared at Natasha, all beginning to fear the worst.

"Tasha." Clint prodded gently.

"He left, ok." The spy said harshly. "And he isn't coming back."

"What? What do you mean he just left? Left to where?" I asked heartbrokenly. We were supposed to stick together, thick and thin, no matter what! I always felt that Bruce and I were kindred spirits, both of us nervous about using our abilities, he more so than I but still! He and I weren't fighters like the rest, he was the one who understood what I was going through. He knew what it was like to be scared of yourself.

"He hijacked a plane, put it on stealth mode, and rode off into the sunset." Nat said sardonically with a shrug. She had a casually tone but she was closer to Bruce than I was, I knew she was in pain.

"He wasn't handling South Africa well." Steve stated solemnly. When did he get here?

"He didn't have to leave." I quavered rubbing the tear tracks from my cheeks. God, I was a blubbering mess lately! Can't even keep it together for longer than a few minutes.

"He's always been a loner, nothing new about that." Tony reminded seemingly completely unfazed. I gawked at him with wide eyes.

"But we're family." I stressed sadly.

"Bruce knows that. He's probably just taking time to collect himself." Clint reasoned rationally.

"Yes, our green friend will be back in no time!" Thor added optimistically, but even his ever present confidence seemed to be waning. Shakily I ran a hand through my tangled hair. Every battle we lost someone, I don't know why I'm so surprised anymore.

"But we can track him down right? He can't just be off the grid!"

"That's kind of what stealth mode in tales Sarah." Natasha said scathingly.

"Tasha." Clint warned.

"Bruce will be fine, he's been off on his own before. Don't worry about it." Steve told me with a small smile. It looked like it was painful for the expression to be on his face.

"Yeah but he-"

"I'm glad to see you're all settled in." Fury commented as he made his appearance ending our conversation on Bruce for the time being. Maria was right on his heels, striding into the room with her electronic pad in hand.

"I know you're all too tired for chit chat this time folks so I'll make it short." Getting right to the point I see, no witty banter or anything. I guess we weren't the only exhausted ones in the room. For now, I put away my distressed thoughts about Bruce and decided to focus on it later. I wiped the rest of my tears away in frustration and steeled myself for this conversation. I wasn't ready to let this go, but I could put a pin in it for now.

Fury stood at the table between Thor and Steve, we had taken up the entire table so the former director had to stand. He had a couple small scratches on his cheeks, but other than that he was fine. Same went for Maria, it looked like they were able to avoid any major fighting thankfully.

"We're moving you to a SHIELD training facility in upstate New York for the time being. Once again the world is in fear of what the Avengers are capable of, so we're taking you out of the public eye for a while." Fury explained. It made sense, I mean why wouldn't everyone be afraid of us? We just created a psychopathic murderous sentient robot that lifted a city into the sky in hopes of demolishing the earth. Turning to the twins Fury asked,

"Are you two staying in Sokovia, or are you with us?" A silent conversation passed between the Maximoffs as the two stared at each other. They were having a quick telepathic discussion which on the outside was just a myriad of facial expressions.

"We will go with you to New York." Pietro stated finally placing his arm around Wanda. Fury nodded and if he was pleased with their decision he didn't show it.

"When do we leave?" Steve asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"Immediately, Maria will take you to where you can grab some rest and medical attention. We'll be in New York in a few hours. Now, I have to go persuade the UN away from arresting you all. Try not to make any more stupid ass decisions alright?" That last part was directed mores so at Tony than the rest of us it seemed.

"What about clean up? And the refugees?" Steve asked.

"SHIELD will deal with it, for now your priority is to go off the grid." Maria told us. Right "off the grid", code for go hide and save your asses while we try to fix the huge mess you just made.

"You mean go into hiding." Clint muttered. Fury didn't respond, but we all knew that's what was going on. Save the world yet again and you're still on everyone's shit list.

 **Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it! Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! I just want to thank all of you for reading this and a especially to those who review! A special thanks to abstract0118 for all the wonderful reviews! Thank you to all for the comments, they make it that much more fun to write this knowing that others are enjoying it just as much. So I hope you like this next chapter! Thanks!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing of Marvels, only Sarah Byrd.**

* * *

"If I push here, does it hurt?" Agent Myers asked, lightly prodding my uncovered lower abdomen.

"It's sore, but I think that just may be from all the activity." I told her.

As soon as Fury released us, we bee lined for the med bay. And by bee line I mean Tony wandered off to inspect the ship, Clint said he was going to call Laura real quick and it would only take a second. Tasha didn't say anything, she just gave a phony salute and walked out of the room. Cap mentioned that he had to make a phone call. And they all promised they would be down there as soon as they could.

As for Thor and Vision they didn't require any attention at all. Stupid nonhuman genes that made it extremely difficult to injure them. So instead of a trip to medical Maria led them to the helicarrier's lodging area. The only ones who actually went to get immediate medical attention were the twins.

I on the other hand made a quick detour to find food, a warm shower, and new clothing. Neither of which were hard to find because they hadn't remodeled the ship in a few years, so everything was exactly how we left it. I never had the chance to explore the carrier much but these three things I knew exactly how to find them.

I snuck into the dining hall, and since it wasn't a designated meal time there were only a couple people milling around the room. As quickly as I could and as inconspicuous as I could, I grabbed a banana and a water bottle and left. It wasn't exactly a feast but my body was so sore there wasn't much else my stomach could handle.

I backed out into the hallway and made my way downstairs to the storage area. Most of the agents had been left on the ground to handle cleanup and the refugee camp so the ship for now was pretty void of human activity. So grabbing a pair of SHIELD authorized casual wear and finding an empty bathroom was not hard to come by at the moment.

But after putting it off for as long as I could, I found my way to the med bay and decided I should get checked out. Agent Myers griped at me for taking my time coming in saying that she almost sent out a patrol to drag me here when I didn't show up right after our meeting with Fury. But I think she was secretly pleased I wasn't all bloodied up and dirty like I easily could have. Not that she would have admit it though. But at least I was content with not smelling like a dead goat.

I had only met Agent Myers once before, and I didn't even know her first name. She was a rough and tough kind of gal with normal brown hair tied back tightly in the standard bun. But instead of a uniform she was dressed in black scrubs, with the SHIELD logo on the sleeve of course.

And I don't know why she was getting onto me about coming in late, no one else had bothered to show up yet and they probably wouldn't for a while either. I glanced over at the Maximoff who were sitting on the cots across the room. They were setting the bar too high, didn't they know that people didn't actually comes to medical unless they were literally bleeding out. They were making us look bad.

They both had changed out of their battle clothes and into similar outfits to the one I had on, black sweats and a black top, to be honest it wasn't a very flattering look on anyone. Except maybe Steve, but he was Steve so you know.

It looked like Agent Myers planned on keeping them overnight, they were wrapped up in bandages like mummies and neither seemed to be expecting to leave just yet. They did just go through their first major fight so they probably weren't taking any chances. Though I can't imagine them wanting to stay in this place, it looked an awful lot like the Hydra facility where they were experimented on. And if that wasn't ironic…

Myers scoffed and rolled her hazel eyes at my remark.

"'Activity,' Listen to yourself, you make it sound like you just went to a spin class or something." She pushed a little harder on my stomach and I winced slightly. "I'm not looking for sore, I'm looking for sharp pains or things of that sort."

"Well then you're good there." I grumbled, not liking her poking and prodding.

"Ok, and here?" Her gloved hands moved upwards towards all the bruising and added some pressure. I drew in a quick breath and flinched away from her. "Bingo." The doc muttered before prodding it again in a manner that she probably thought was gentle but it felt like she was trying to push out my insides.

"Yep, there it is. You can stop touching it now." I hissed through gritted teeth, trying to squirm away from her evil hands. This is why no one on the team likes coming here. Dr. Cho's never like this.

"I'm just trying to get an idea of where the problem is. Don't be such a baby."

"Then use ultrasound!" I replied through gritted teeth, the pain was really grinding on my nerves.

"She has a thing about being touched." I heard Pietro drawl out from the other side of the room. Myers' eyebrow quirked up in amusement.

"That's just because you're too handsy." I muttered, I would have said it louder but I trying not to squeak when Myer's pushed on my stomach.

"I didn't hear any complaints." Came Pietro's smug reply.

"Yes you did, you just chose to ignore them." I reminded him. Although I couldn't see him past Myers I could feel the shit eating grin on his face.

"Pietro, leave her alone and let the doctor work on her." Wanda interjected. I sent her a silent thank you as she diverted his attention onto her instead. I heard him snort and say something else but I couldn't interpret the Sokovian.

"We'll wheel a machine in a little while, my guess is that it's just bruising, if it was major internal bleeding you would have been dead already," Myers told me, sliding the curtain in place to give us more privacy. "For now I'm just going to wrap your ribs and your sprained ankle. There will probably be some pain meds involved as well and definitely antibiotics. You up to date on all your shots?"

"Yeah, of course, but you have my files why do you bother asking?"

"Some people answer differently." She said with a shrug. "And if you didn't we'd have to load you up on meds, Sokovia isn't really known for its forgiving micro-organismal pathogens. Alright, I'm gunna need you to sit up, I'm going to check your ears." She helped pull me upwards onto the bed and leaned me back against the headboard.

"Ok, when you hear a noise I want you to say, 'beep.'" I gave her skeptical look.

"Can't I just raise my hand?"

"No, I want you to try and match the pitch." Myers said shaking her head. "You're not embarrassed are you?" If she was trying to hide her grin, she wasn't doing too hot.

"Well, yeah a little bit." I confessed.

"Too bad." She raised a little device to my left ear, "Ok, so just make the beep when you hear it." I sighed and tried not to look over her should at the twins who were staring over curiously.

There was a quiet beep and I copied it, hoping that there was an actual noise and that I wasn't just hearing the ringing in my ears again. A lower pitched one sounded in my ear, again I did my best to mimic it. This went on for a couple minutes and I tried with all my might to ignore Pietro's restrained laughed from the other side of the room. I could tell when I was hearing the beep because there would be a longer pause than normal and Myers eyes would flicker to my face before settling back on her clipboard. By the time she was done checking out both ears, I was about read to strangle Myers and Maximoff.

"So your hearing is…ok, still getting back into the swing of things, you're having trouble with the really high and the really low but it should come back in a couple days. I would avoid load noise for at least a couple months though to be safe."

"No missions?"

"Recon probably wouldn't be a problem as long as you bring ear plugs and don't get into heavy fire, but nothing too involved. And no deep water swimming or diving either." That wouldn't be a big problem, I didn't really like missions all that much, I was a linguist after all, my forte was translation not assassination.

"What about my head? You said I didn't have a concussion earlier but why was I dizzy?" That was the first thing she checked when I got to the med bay. She ruled out concussion but that didn't explain my earlier vertigo.

"That was just a side effect of your hearing being messed up. Your balance comes from the fluid in your ears, so if your ears are scrambled you'll be dizzy. You should be fine in terms of that by now."

"Right, so how long do I have stay here?"

"Why, got somewhere to be?" Myers shot back with a smirk.

"I remember you being a lot less difficult last time."

"That's because you weren't my patient, Agent Barton was and we were on the same side." A smile came to my lips as I remembered having to practically drag Clint in here after New York. The memory made me giggle.

"I had to hide from him for a whole week because I thought he was going to pop out of the rafters and make a kabob out of me." Myers laughed and patted my shoulder.

"If it makes you feel any better, you're a much better patient."

"Does being a good patient mean I can sleep in a regular bed?" I asked hopefully.

"Woah, no one said anything about being a _good_ patient, just better than Barton. I want you to stay the night, just until morning though. I won't bother trying to keep anyone here longer than that." I frowned and pouted my lips but I wasn't that surprised with her orders.

"And besides, I'm making your little buddies stay here to, it'll be like a sleepover."

"Yeah just a normal sleepover bonding team experience…in a hospital."

"Medical ward, it's different." Myers corrected mildly peeved at my description for whatever reason.

" _Right_."

"Alright, enough chit chat. I need to fix up your ribs." She said pulling out a roll of gauze from her cart.

* * *

" _You were always my favorite you know."_ I glanced up from my Russian work book to look at Luke. He was lounging on my couch like he normally did when he decided to come visit. The way he propped himself up on the cushions always gave him this regal look that didn't quit fit in my apartment. Like he wasn't just sitting on my beat up hand-me-down couch, instead he was laying on some royal futon.

" _Favorite what? Neighbor?"_ I asked. He chuckled and gave me a look that told me I was missing something important. But around him, I always felt like there was something I didn't get. Like there was this huge mystery and it was hilarious that I was unaware of what it was.

" _No, silly girl. My favorite human."_ Luke sent me a charming grin like that was the most natural thing in the world. Having a favorite human that is.

" _You say that as if you're not human."_ I laughed. He titled his head, black locks moving with it.

" _Who is to say otherwise?"_

" _Otherwise? You mean to say you're not human."_ I questioned confusedly. Sometimes he spoke in riddles and his green eyes would gleam dangerously like he was just waiting for me to take the bait so he could snap me up. That was the thing about Luke, you always pined to be in his favor but it was like you were always ten steps behind.

" _You never remember do you?"_ He murmured leaning forward to stroke my cheek. My face burned red at the contact. That was out of character! Luke hasn't showed interest in me before, let alone he wouldn't touch me so familiarly.

" _Remember what? What am I forgetting?"_ Luke began chuckling at that, it started out normal but then morphed into a maniacal rumble of cruel laughter. Like the ones you see in movies where the villains have just told you their evil plans and they think there's no way you can stop them.

Then the world around me shifted, I wasn't in my living room anymore. We were in Germany and Luke still had his hand on my cheek and he was still laughing like a crazed man.

" _Luke I don't understand."_ I told him getting worried. And then he stopped laughing, he frowned and then his eyebrows bent into a scowl. His hand moved from my face and he harshly grabbed a fistful of my blonde hair.

" _You never understood you dull child."_ He spat cruelly. Tears welled up in my eyes as he flung me away from him. I cried out as I landed roughly onto the wet cobblestone road.

" _Luke what's going on? Why are you being like this?"_ I sobbed.

" _How many times must I tell you! I am Loki you petulant quim! God of Mischief and a Frost Giant of Jotenhiem!"_ He yelled so loudly that the ground shook and all the lights in the buildings flashed out. His anger poured off of him in literal black waves and the oppression was so great I could do no more than tremble and cry.

Gone was my sweet and gentle neighbor who brought home stray cats and couldn't even watch violent movies. He was eaten up by this tall, horned, monster whose rage threatened to destroy the world.

" _This is who I am, I am a god and I will not be cast aside as a distant memory!"_ He roared. I screamed as the street began to crumble underneath his feet and the building swayed back and forth, threatening to come crashing down at any moment.

" _I will not be forgotten."_ Loki commanded pointed that god awful scepter in my face. _"Never."_ He whispered as the staff lit up in a blinding light.

" _NO!"_ I shrieked wrapping myself in a protective bubble of energy reflexively as the ground split beneath me and I plummeted into darkness.

"Sarah!"

"No!"

"Sarah open your eyes!" the voice pleaded again.

"No!" I sobbed once more. I just wanted to be left alone! Why wouldn't he leave me alone?

"Sarah, you are safe. Open your eyes." A gentler voice softly said. I shook my head, I couldn't open my eyes. If I did I would only see lies again.

"Come on now, it's alright." I vaguely felt something patting my back and it sent my eyes flying open.

I wasn't in Germany, or in my old apartment. I was in the med bay on board the helicarrier. I stayed stock still for a moment, too afraid that if I moved the world would break apart in front of me.

"Are you alright?" I recognized those blue eyes.

"Wanda?" That's when I remembered that I wasn't alone in the room. Arms tightened around my shoulders and I realized that she was sitting on my cot with me, hugging me to her.

"Yes, you-you were having a nightmare." She responded worriedly. I sighed and shook my head.

"No, it was more like a memory." I confessed, choking back another sob. There was a moment's pause, so long that I thought for sure she wasn't going to respond. Thankfully she stopped rubbing circles on my back, I hated being consoled that way. It made me feel awkward and agitated me even more.

"Sokovia? I can't get them out of my mind either." Wanda admitted sadly. I briefly wondered how much sleep they were getting, sometimes the first night is the hardest. Again I shook my head.

"No, it was about the Battle of New York. Or I guess what happened before hand." I told her quietly. I felt her nod understandingly but she didn't say anything more for a while. I sat there, all sweaty and disoriented, as Wanda who was a little more than an acquaintance let go of me but get a firm grip on my hand.

I didn't bother to meet her gaze, I knew what it would look like. I had seen dozens of times on my teammates faces and hell I had probably worn the same expression when I had to be the one to wake them up from a night terror. It would have pity and worry and sadness and something else that never set well with me.

"If you want, we can talk about it." Wanda offered. I knew she was sincere because one thing she wasn't was dishonest. But I couldn't help but snort.

"You sound like my therapist." I commented tiredly.

"You have a shrink?" Pietro asked. My head jerked up, this was the first time I was made aware of his presence. He was standing next to my bed shifting his weight awkwardly. He looked solemn… and tired.

"If you fight in enough wars you do." His electric blue eyes widened a bit, it was kinda hard to tell though in the dimmed lighting. "I'm sorry I woke you guys up." I added without giving them a chance to respond.

"It is fine, we were not getting much sleep anyway." Wanda said quietly. I wondered briefly if she had had the chance to brush her hair yet, it looked a little matted and ratty the way it was twisted into a not on top of her head. Not that it mattered in the slightest but at the moment it was something else to focus on.

"If you ask Agent Myers nicely she might give you some sleeping pills."

"We don't really like to use drugs." Pietro answered. A grim expression passed over his features and he seemed to space out. There something more to that story but I didn't have the energy to press it. I sighed again and leaned against my pillows.

"Warm milk usually does the trick for me." I offered instead. They didn't respond, instead they just kept sending each other worried expressions and then looking back at me.

"I'll be fine guys. You can go back to bed." They looked like they were going to fall asleep where they were.

"You will be ok yes?" Wanda asked, her blue eyes trained on my face. I nodded back.

"Of course, I've been having nightmares long before y'all came into the picture. Don't worry about it." That didn't seem to make them feel any better, probably should have just stopped at 'of course'. I wonder if they think they'll end up like me. Terrorized by bad dreams and old memories. There was a good chance of that happening.

"Alright, let me know if you need anything." Wanda replied uneasily as she slid off the bed and let go of my hand.

"Sure." I said settling back down into the scratchy sheets. Wanda gave me a small smile and moved towards her cot.

"Pietro?" She called when he had stayed rooted in his spot by my bed. He stared at me with an unreadable gaze for a moment longer before hesitantly walking back.

"Right, well good night." He stated rather awkwardly.

"Night." Was my quiet response. I listened to the twins get settled in and move their blankets into more comfortable positions and I tried to relax. But when I closed my eyes all I saw were Loki's green ones staring right back at me, mocking me.

I watched the clock on the wall for a while in an attempt to bore myself to sleep. 2:27 it read. There weren't any windows in the med bay so was it a.m. or p.m.? And what time zone were we in? Did the clock read Sokovian time, New York or maybe France? For whatever reason, the not knowing made me anxious and that made it even harder to fall asleep.

When I was little, around seven or eight I had my first sleepover at my friend Rachel's house. And I woke up in the middle of the night and all the lights were off and I had the terrifying thought that the sun was never going to come up again. So I ran around their house, crying, and trying to find a clock. I stared at the one on their oven for what felt like a couple hours as I willed for time to speed up so the sun would come back.

It was a silly thing to happen, but I was young and at the time my fear had seemed rational. But now I'm staring at this clock in the med bay reliving old fears and thinking that this time the sun may never rise again. Which was stupid but it made me cry.

It was pitiful, here I was a survivor of yet another battle where I had seen death and destruction and I was crying over a stupid clock with stupid hands that moved too slowly. I blew out a large breath and flipped onto my other side away from the wall clock. It was just stress, I'll be fine.

But I couldn't fall asleep, all I could do was toss and turn and try my best to shut out all the unwanted memories. Why was it that when you needed sleep the most that was the time that your brain decided to bombard you with every terrible thing that's ever happened to you?

"Hey." My eyes wrenched open and I flew into a sitting position. It was Pietro, he was kneeling next to my bed again.

"What?" I whispered back angrily, clutching at my stomach which was now strained from my sudden movements. Did he need to the bathroom or something?

"You have been moving around for the past half hour, it is distracting." He didn't say it harshly or anything but I felt chastised none the less.

"Sorry. Did I wake you both up again?" I sniffled, feeling truly pathetic.

"No, Wanda is an easy sleeper. It takes her two seconds to fall asleep and nothing short of a bullhorn can wake her up." Pietro said with the shake of his head.

"But I woke her up last time."

"Because you knocked over a bed with your shield thingies."

"My shield thingies-oh." Well that was embarrassing. Good thing it was dark or he would have for sure noticed how red my face was turning. "Who's bed?"

"Just an empty one." I sighed in relief, that would have been bad.

"So is the bed too uncomfortable or bad dreams again?"

"Neither. The sun's never coming up."

"What?" He asked in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing, I'm sure it's coming back." I told him with a sigh. He was quiet for a minute, contemplating how to respond. I could feel his gaze on me so I stuck to staring at the bed sheets. He probably thought I was a crazy person. I was beginning to think so myself.

"Do you want me to find some warm milk?" He whispered. My eyes widened in surprise. I didn't expect him to suggest that.

"No, I'll be ok." I responded, slightly flustered at his response.

"That's what you said last time and here we are."

"Pietro-"

"How about a story then? When I cannot sleep Wanda tells me a story and rubs my head." If possible my cheeks heated up even more.

"Uh, no thanks. You don't have to do that for me."

"Nonsense, this is purely selfish. I would like to go back to sleep before the sun rises and I cannot do that with you flopping around like a dead fish." His words were mean but the way he said it was anything but.

"Pietro-" I tried again not really wanting him to go out of his way.

"Over three hundred years ago," He started cutting me off. "It always three hundred years in the stories you know. But I am sure that this story happened much longer ago than that." He babbled. I sighed and wiped the remaining tears from my face. If he noticed he didn't comment.

"Alright so three hundred years ago there was a man, a very handsome man who was big and strong and very fast. His name was Piotr and—"

"Really?" I interrupted dryly.

"Hush, I am speaking." He said putting his hand over my mouth. I scowled and pushed it off of me and Pietro laughed softly. "Anyway, Piotr lived in a quiet village with his younger sister. He loved her very much but she could also be very annoying when she wanted to be." I rolled my eyes but kept my mouth shut this time. I'm sure Wanda would love to know that her brother thought she was annoying. Or did she already, she could read thoughts after all.

"The two of them were orphans who lost their parents at a very young age but despite that, they were happy because they had one another. And that was more than most." Pietro reached out and stroked my hair once, but I pushed his hand away before he could do it again.

"Pietro." I warned.

"Yes, yes no touching. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, their village was very poor and the villagers were too weak to be able to fight the people who were keeping their town sick. This angered the two siblings, so they along with other villagers protested and begged for help. But none came.

One day a foreign man came from a different land and told them that they could become stronger, strong enough to help their village and rid themselves of the oppressive powers that threatened to destroy their homes.

'Would you like to help save your village?' The strange man asked.

'Of course, of course!' the siblings said happily because finally they would be able to help. But what they did not realize was that the man was a wolf in disguise. So Piotr and his sister allowed the man to help them get stronger, and stronger they became. But it was a lie. The man did not want to help save their village, he wanted them to overtake the village completely.

So the siblings ran away. And joined a different man, one with metallic skin and eyes as red as blood. One who promised that he would save their village and foolishly they believed him. After all this man was different, he could not possibly betray their trust like the evil man before him.

And they helped him, and it seemed like they were finally doing right, finally helping their village. There were warning signs of course as there usually are. A beautiful woman showed up with her friends and they warned them that they were doing wrong, that they were on the wrong side. But the two did not listen. Piotr swore that he would not be swayed by the pretty face of who he thought was the enemy. But that too was also a lie. This metal man not only wanted to destroy their village but the entire world. Yes the siblings were strong now, but what could they do? The man was stronger still and Piotr and his sister could do nothing but watch the horrors that they helped create unfold."

"I don't like this story." I told him quietly with a frown defining my face. He smiled a little and replied,

"It gets better, be patient…..

But then the girl came along again. And although she did not trust the siblings who had twice now been tricked into hurting their home, she and her friends gave them a chance. An opportunity to fight back and protect their village. And Piotr knew, that for sure, he was now fighting the good fight.

And they were. Piotr and his sister along with the beautiful girl and her friends, they defeated the metal man and saved their village. And since all stories must end very happily, Piotr and the beautiful woman rode of on a white stallion into the sunset and lived happily ever after." He wrapped up with a satisfied smile on his face.

"I don't think that story is a hundred percent accurate." I murmured unsure of what else to say.

"Yes, well it is a bed time story so it has to have a good ending." He defended crossing his arms over his bandaged chest.

"I think the ending was happy enough without the extra embellishment." I didn't mean to sound ungrateful but the whole thing made me embarrassed.

"Next time you can tell it the way you like, but that is how I tell the story. So are you tired now?" The light haired man asked, leaning forward as if to inspect my face.

"Not really." I said, scooting back.

"That is because you did not let me pet your head. That is how you get sleepy." He tsked.

"Well I don't think it'd be appropriate."

"Ah come on, we fought an army of robots together. It is not as if we are strangers."

"I've known you for less than a week!" I countered.

"But I have been waiting for you my whole life." He remarked with a grin.

"Does that line usually work?" I replied unimpressed.

"Usually yes."

"I think it's dumb." Pietro sighed and raised his hands in defeat.

"Alright, I will stop. How about I tell you another story. It will be much happier." He must really like telling stories, or maybe like Piotr he just wanted to be helpful.

"Alright." I said, lifting the sheet up to my shoulders. Pietro smiled, obviously content that I wasn't kicking him out just yet, or rather sending him to bed.

"Ok, so over three hundred years ago there was a little village, it was so small that it did not have a name, but it was beautiful. It laid in between two mountains in the river valley below, and the fields were full of flowers that bloomed year round." Pietro was a really good story teller, he had all the right hand motions and voice inflections down to a 'T'. It was hard to look away because he was so interesting to watch. Not in a creepy way, just in an 'oh you have fun hand gestures'….ok never mind.

"The temperature there was never too hot and never too cold, and it rained every afternoon for thirty minutes, just enough to keep the village's crops healthy. And afterwards there would be a huge rainbow that stretched across the entire sky. This village was special because there was no war, no famine, and people only died when they were old and wrinkly and it was always of natural causes. There were no broken families and everything was happy." He may be a spaz during the day, but he was good at telling bedtime stories. He kept his voice quiet and it seemed like the longer he talked, the softer he spoke.

I listened to him talk about this made up place and let my heavy eyes fall closed as I imagined that this little village was real. I realized I had nodded off when I felt a hand gently smoothing the hair on my head. Sleepily I made a noise of protest, but I think it came out as more of a hum, I didn't care though. Sleep smoothly pulled me back under as I listened to Pietro talk about the beautiful fiction village where there were streets lined with pretty flowers all the time.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading, hope y'all enjoyed! Please leave reviews, they are appreciated greatly and feedback is great! Have a great weekend!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews, as always it is greatly appreciated! So notes for this chapter, I have the Maximoffs speaking in Ukrainian because sadly Sokovian is not a language. And I'm not translating the text, one because it's really short and two because Sarah doesn't speak it so she wouldn't know. And since it's from her perspective I figured that made sense.**

 **Ok so hope you all enjoy! Please review!**

* * *

We landed in upstate New York around one a.m. and even in the dark I could tell that this new facility was big. But I was expecting, for lack of a better word, more. Especially since Maria raved about how enormous it was. It all looked one story, but it was SHIELD so I assumed the rest was underground.

We flew around back and lowered into the open roof of the hangar. Hopefully, Maria wasn't planning on giving us the full tour right now because I think we all looked worse than we did a couple days ago. The bruising set it nicely and we all, minus Vision and Thor, had matching black and blue mottling on our skin.

"Ok, we'll get you situated in your wing and give you the night to get some rest." Hill said leading us off the plane. "Sound good?" She was met by halfhearted mumbles and grunts of agreement, which was probably the most enthusiastic response she was going to get.

Most of us were too tired at the moment to be curious but Vision was gliding back and forth taking in the new scenery. He looked like he had questions but he kept them to himself. A self-aware android (or whatever he was) indeed.

The facility was nice, very clean looking and new. The walls were so shiny a couple times I thought I saw the metal sparkle. As we passed certain doors, Maria would comment that it was the cafeteria, a training room, computer lab, or an equipment room, stuff like that. Mostly though it was just dormitories, all the fun stuff was on the lower floors deeper underground. It wasn't a formal tour, just casual talk along the way.

It was when we were passing another hallway of dorms that one moment I was walking and then the next I was hanging upside down with all the blood rushing to my head. That's what you get for being in the back of the group.

"Hey!" I shouted in surprise, grabbing the attention of my teammates. They all whipped around and quickly dropped into fighting stances.

"Little Sarah Byrd is that you?" A deep voice laughed. If I wasn't currently on pain pills I might have been angrier at the current situation.

"Shouldn't you check to make sure you know who you're picking up before you do so?" I quipped, grabbing onto the arm that was keeping me in the air for support and to keep my shirt from flopping into my face.

The guy's chest boomed with laughed, if he kept it up he would wake the whole floor. "Yup, definitely little Byrd!"

"Ray, put me down." I sighed tiredly as I recognized the voice. The agent chuckled and shook me a little. He put Pietro to shame when it came to handsy-ness, he was so much bigger than everyone else he could easily manhandle most people. The team looked bewildered at the interaction and truth be told I certainly hadn't expected anything like this either.

"Aw, but we haven't seen each other in years! Don't you miss me?"

"Well-"

"The lady said to release her, I think it best that you do." Thor interrupted, menacingly holding up his hammer.

"You guys are no fun." Ray pouted.

"Come on, Raymond I'm injured here. You're going to make it worse." I told him, feeling a little woozy with all the extra liquid pooling down to my head and neck.

"What! Injured? See this why you should have stuck to desk work Sare." Ray fretted, easily flipping me back around into a righted position. I blinked rapidly as the tingly feeling in my brain started to trickle down my neck.

"Sarah who is this?" Clint asked warily. The older spy was glaring at Ray, well glaring as much as he could while keeping his face pretty plain.

Rubbing my stomach gently I replied, "This is Agent Raymond Glass, we were in the linguistics department together."

"You're in linguistics?" Natasha replied skeptically. Yeah, Ray didn't really have the standard desk job type look being as that he was over six and a half feet tall and was a wall of muscle. But really the guy had zero fighting ability. He was as pacifist as they came.

"Почему бы вам не сказать мне?" (Why don't you tell me?) He shot back at Nat. I raised an eyebrow. That was new.

"Когда вы выучили Русский?" (When did you learn Russian?) I asked without giving Nat a chance to reply. Last time I had seen him he only knew, English, Mandarin, Latin, and Greek.

"Hast du für eine Weile gegangen wurde Honig." (You have been gone for a while, honey.) Ray told me in German.

"Ja ja keine Notwendigkeit zu zeigen, Ray." (Yeah, yeah no need to show off, Ray.) I replied dismissively rolling my eyes. He grinned and crossed his arms over his chest.

"That's nothing, I'm up to fourteen now."

"Fourteen!?" I sputtered in shock. It had only been three years! Wow, if I hadn't felt inadequate before I sure as hell did now. Fourteen? Oh my god!

"Yes, well I've a lot of time to practice." He said it casually like it wasn't a big deal, "And it's mostly just the Asian languages." I think I might have visibly deflated. Just the Asian ones he says.

"Oh yeah, which ones?"

"Japanese, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Korean, Taiwanese, and of course German and Russian." Ray shrugged. "How about you?" I felt more watched than ever, the whole team was listening in on our conversation and I felt ashamed that I hadn't kept up with my SHIELD team in terms of languages.

"I've only picked up Mandarin, Russian, ASL, and some Korean." I admitted embarrassedly, rubbing my cheeks.

"Well you've been doing all that Avengers stuff, and I've just been sitting at a desk memorizing words." Ray shrugged.

"You did the emersion trips though right?" In SHIELD, when you were learning new languages, you would study the theory intensely for about a month and then go to another country to only speak that language for a couple months. I hadn't been on one of those since I was in the academy.

"Of course. But we can talk about that later. I want you to introduce me to your team. You've been holding out!" Ray grinned and slung a heavy arm over my shoulders. I looked up at the team, who were shooting me curious looks.

"Ok, team this is Ray, Ray this is the team."

"That was a terrible introduction." The red headed man complained.

"You already know who everyone is."

"Not those three." He said rudely pointing to the twins and Vision. "Who's the cutie?" he asked winking in the Maximoff's direction. Pietro narrowed his eyes protectively and shifted closer to his sister who raised dark eyebrow.

"Ray leave him alone, I'm pretty sure he's straight." I replied rolling my eyes, Ray may not be a stereotypical gay guy but flirting was second nature to him. Pietro's eyes widened comically at my comment and his arms fell out their crossed position.

"You're just saying that because you want him for yourself." Ray accused.

"Hey I am not! I just, I was-" my cheeks reddened and I crossed my arms over my chest defensively.

"He's got you pegged!" Clint chuckled loudly. I glared at him, he was not being helpful.

"You know what, he could be bi, go for it." I proclaimed with a dismissive attitude.

"Like I need your permission." Ray sassed.

"Wait I am not gay!" Pietro stated with red ears, "Not that there is anything wrong with that it is just that I am not. So there. I am for sure straight, I like women." He stumbled inelegantly over his words, much to the team's amusement.

"Don't worry, we believe you." Natasha laughed. Wanda smiled sympathetically at her brother and patted his shoulder.

"This is a safe place Pietro do not worry." She joked. He shot her rude look as if she had just shot his childhood pet. I was beginning to see why he described her as annoying in his story. She was hilarious.

" _Wanda_!" He growled. Wanda put her hands up in defense and bit her lip to stop herself from laughing.

"You sure you're straight?" Ray asked walking over the speedster, towering over him. I almost felt bad for the guy, he looked extremely awkward.

"I, uh, yes I am sure."

"You don't sound so sure." I teased. Pietro's eyes snapped to mine and he smirked.

"Want me to prove it to you?" He asked in a cocky manner snapping out of his flustered state. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I'm gunna take a hard pass." Pietro shrugged.

"Well not that this isn't riveting, discussing Maximoff's sexuality and all, but I'm rather exhausted." Tony interjected cutting in to the conversation. He must be tired, he was silent the whole time.

"Aw, ok well come find me later." Ray told me.

"Right! I'll see you around Ray." I replied, and gave the giant a quick hug. I was way too eager to get out of this incredibly awkward situation. It was like watching those cringe worthy scenes in movies where you just can't watch because it's so awkward. I am never coming down this hallway again.

* * *

So apparently we had our own wing. I heard Maria say it earlier, but my brain hadn't fully processed it until now. It was kind of awesome but kind of crazy. You had to have a special clearance card to get in the huge double doors that sectioned off the 'Avenger's Apartments'.

When you first walk in, it feels like a house because there's a kind of foyer that leads into a huge living space. And since it was an open floor, you could see the massive kitchen along the other side of the room. One wall was completely made up of windows!

There were two other doors in the room. One that led to a couple offices and a small library and the other that took you into the sleeping quarters and bathrooms. Maria mentioned a private training room as well, that we could use to practice with each other.

"So it's pretty simple, you each get your own rooms. Pick and choose however you like, they're all the same." Maria informed us, letting us wander into the hallway.

"I'm pretty sure I added a suite onto my room in the building plans." Tony gloated.

"Yes well in light of fairness we went with symmetry." Maria chirped back.

"Yes well, who paid for all this?"

"SHIELD did."

"And see kiddies that's why you buy your own things. Lesson learned." Tony said before opening the first door on his right, "Nightie night." He added and promptly slammed his door shut.

"I'll leave you too it." Hill stated, making her back out of the apartments. I caught eyes with Thor, I shrugged and walked a few doors down.

"I'll see you all in the morning then, I guess."

"Yup, night all."

"Good night Mary Ellen, night Grandpa, Jim Bob-"

" _Good night Clint_." Natasha quipped before stepping into her room and shutting the rest of us out.

* * *

"You're sure that you can't stay longer?" I asked, looking up at Thor. The blonde god shook his head.

"No, I must get back to Asgard. Things are finished here but there is much to be done back home." I nodded in understanding. It was easy to forget sometimes that our hammer wielding teammate was actually a king in another realm.

"You're really not going to pop in and say hello to Jane? She misses you, you know." A guilty expression passed over his features and he twisted his hammer anxiously in his hand.

"Ah, well I am not eager to face the wrath of her anger. She can be quite violent when the mood strikes her."

"Yes, but I think she'll be even more angry when she realizes that you didn't visit her." Thor gave an awkward laugh and reached out with a large hand to ruffle my hair.

"That is a chance I am willing to take." I glared and pushed his hand away before smoothing down my now tangled hair.

"It's your funeral." I snorted. I've never met Jane before, but back when I worked with Dr. Selvig he mentioned her quite a lot. And he also told me how in love with Thor she was and he with her. I can't imagine how they make this long distance thing work. It kind of seems impossible, especially when one of them didn't take the time to meet up with the other when the opportunity presented itself.

"See, I told you they would be up here." Tony said sauntering into the hallway where Thor and I were standing.

"You said they were probably on base. You didn't exactly narrow it down." Steve remarked as he rolled his blue eyes. Both of them were dressed in civilian clothes at the moment. We hadn't begun any formal training yet, a jog here and there, a spar or two with a random team member. But mostly the team had been recuperating and taking things a day at a time.

The tragedy in Sokovia with Ultron was only a few days ago and the facility was still abuzz with activity. Agents were coming in and going out constantly to Sokovia to help with relief efforts. I had asked a few times if I could go with to help, to do something, even just handing out water bottles. But I was kindly reminded each time to butt out and keep my head down. It was starting to piss me off. The twins had been asking to go back and help as well, but they were promptly told the same thing.

It was all I could do to not go stir crazy. Mostly I holed myself up in our library and studied up on the Korean language. I had started learning it with Dr. Cho a few months ago but she was healing in her home country and no one was letting me go visit her like I promised. Seriously they weren't letting us do anything but sit on our butts and twiddle our thumbs.

And it was about to get even quieter because Thor and Tony were leaving today, and Clint had to go back home tomorrow because Laura was due any day now.

"Eh, semantics." Tony walked and slung his arm over my shoulders lazily. No one ever did this kind of stuff to Natasha. I should try to be more unapproachable so then they would leave me alone. "Thor you ready to go? Got all your stuff packed up, tooth brush, underwear, L'Oréal hair care products?"

"I did not bring anything with me when I traveled here except for Mjölnir. But I am prepared to depart, though I am greatly saddened knowing that I will soon be without the presence of the Avengers."

"Yeah, me too buddy." Stark replied removing his arm from my person. "Alright let's get a move on, I want to beat rush hour."

"Yes, it would best to get going."

"I'll say goodbye here." I told them. Thor smiled widely and nodded his head.

"It was good to see you Lady Sarah. I pray that you heal quickly and I looked forward to when we fight side by side next." Thor declared leaning down to give me a firm hug. When we first met, Thor was not about the hugging, a shoulder clap was about all you got out of him. I think Jane softened him up.

I squeezed back and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before letting him go. He grinned and clapped my shoulder roughly, making me stumble a bit not that he noticed. The big oaf didn't even know his own strength sometimes.

"Thanks, you be careful ok? And if you need anything you know where we are."

"Of course Lady Sarah, your words are most appreciated." I smiled back at him, but who knows if he would actually consider asking us for help. We'd known him for about four years and while we had shared our world with him, none of us had ever been to Asgard.

"Yeah, yeah heartfelt goodbyes and all that. Hugs, kisses, bye-bye birdie I'll see you around." Tony twittered as he turned to leave.

" _Tony._ "

"Alright. But no kisses, I don't want to get cooties." I rolled my eyes but accepted his lame hug anyway. He patted my back a few times as if he was disinterested, but I know that Stark secretly likes affection he was just being an ass per usual.

"Have a safe drive Tony and please no more killer robots ok?"

"Oh my god that was one time!" He moaned dramatically. Once was more than enough, I thought giving him a huge kiss on the cheek, laughing when he acted like I was a lepor.

"And once was more than enough." Steve grumbled. Thank you Steve, you took the words right out of my mouth.

"Well hey why don't we put a pin in this conversation and we can come back to it later? Sound good? Alrighty." Stark babbled on as he strolled down the hallway.

"Ok then, well bye Thor. I'll see you around." I faltered. Like Thor said, it was sad for the team to be breaking up and going their own ways, even if it was temporary. With Bruce in the wind, it made it that much harder to let my teammates go. I hope that doesn't sound clingy or anything but, it's the truth. We've been through so much together, letting go can be hard.

"Goodbye Lady Sarah, I hope to see you soon!" I watched the trio walk down the hallway before disappearing around a corner. I sighed and sat down at the window seat, wiping away unfallen tears. Hopefully when things settled and I was less stressed I wouldn't be crying all the time anymore.

From where I was sitting I could see agents running laps around the facility and farther away on the west lawn another group was in combat training. Today felt more like an army base than anything else. Well most days that was how it felt.

"Hey Sarah." Startled I turned to find Wanda, Pietro and Vision standing (in Vision's case floating) behind me.

"Hey guys, how long have you been there?"

"Since Mr. Stark and Captain Rogers arrived." Vision replied truthfully.

"And you didn't step up and say goodbye?" That was kind of off, were they just standing there watching us?

"We did not want to interrupt and we had already said good bye to Thor." Wanda informed me, shifting her weight.

"You wouldn't be interrupting, you're part of the team." This seemed to surprise them because their eyes widened a bit and the twins shared a look.

"You three are part of the original team and have a much stronger bond between you. It would have been inappropriate for the three of us to barge into a situation like that being as that we are the newest members. Therefore, we have the weakest bonds with the team, the lowest on the totem pole as one would say." Vision explained.

"Uh…ok." I mumbled unsure of how to respond to Visions very blunt and awkward analysis. It made sense when you thought about it. They were the odd men out, the newbies, that's most likely why they had been hanging around one another so much. Well, the twins were expected to hang out with each other, so I suppose it was just Vision who stuck with them.

"He means to say we did not want to intrude." Wanda simplified. I nodded, hoping that they didn't feel as excluded as Vision made it seem.

"It's ok if you did, really we're not that cliquish. Or at least I hope not."

"It does not matter." Wanda smiled reassuringly. "We were going to the cafeteria for lunch, do you want to come with?" Wanda offered, changing the subject.

"Sounds good. Oh hold on though Thor's about to leave." I replied turning back to look out the window where Thor, Tony and Steve were standing a ways away in the grass.

"How exactly is he getting home?" Pietro questioned, glancing around as if he expected an alien spaceship to appear out of nowhere.

"I can't describe it, you'll have to watch." I answered cryptically. I didn't mean to sound so enigmatic, but I honestly wasn't sure how to properly convey what was about to happen. We waited for a couple minutes, the three newest members of the team eagerly waiting for Thor to do something.

Eventually Tony and Steve backed away from the Asgardian, giving him a wide berth. Thor lifted his hammer high above his head and in a blinding flash of rainbow Thor was teleported off the earth.

"О господи" Wanda marveled in Sokovian, squinting at the sight in front of her.

"неймовірні." Pietro breathed as he lifted a hand to shield his eyes.

"Так…"

"That is most incredible, the Asgardian have quite the unique means of transportation." Vision commented in fascination. This was only the second time I had seen it and it definitely looked cooler the farther back you stood. You could see that it stretched all the way up into the sky to touch the heavens.

"What was that?" Pietro asked, his blue eyes still glued to the design burned into the grass where Thor used to be. I'm sure Maria's going to be thrilled at that.

"The Bifrost." I informed them, "And don't ask how it works because I have no idea."

"But…a rainbow just sucked him right up. Right into space." Wanda had this awe struck look of wonderment on her features.

"Yeah." I said, not knowing what else to say. It was when Tony drove off in his gaudy orange sports car that we decided to head over to the cafeteria.

Seeing as it was lunch time, the place was jam packed with agents. For me it was awkward, as most things were, to walk into a room full of mostly strangers and have every head turn and stare at you. It happened when going down the hallways, talking a jog, outside everywhere I went it seemed people would turn and look. And it wasn't just with me, all the Avengers had similar stories. I guess we were somewhat of a hot commodity. I'm sure we would lose our novelty after a while, I just wished that time was now.

"I really hate their staring." Wanda muttered as we picked our trays and joined the line. Pietro, upon hearing his sister's confession, move closer to her, blocking most of her from view with his body.

"It is harmless, but intrusive none the less." The silver haired man agreed, sliding his tray along the railing.

"Why does it bother you, Wanda? I thought it was considered odd when humans did not look at one another." Vision inquired, his gaze wandering around the room inquisitively.

"It is weird when people do not look at you when you are talking to them. But it is rude to stare at people who you are not talking to." Wanda explained, self-consciously tossing her hair over one shoulder to block face from the view of prying eyes.

"Yes, staring is extremely rude." Pietro repeated quite loudly, turning to glare at onlookers. He got most of those in hearing range to look away bashfully and pretend like they had been focused on their food the whole time. Some spies they were.

I smiled to myself and picked up a couple pieces of fruit to put on my plate. Luckily the line went quickly and the four of us found an empty table towards the back of the room. The whole set up reminded me of high school, with the rounded tables and TV displaying announcements.

I took a seat next to Wanda and kept my back turned on the rest of the room. Ignoring them was easy and if you didn't think about it too much you didn't notice if people were looking or not. The only time I did notice was when Pietro would look over our heads and shoot death glares at faceless agents. We'd probably be eating in our apartment kitchen from now on.

"How old are you exactly?" Pietro asked, finishing up his conversation with Wanda and looking over at me.

"Exactly? Not sure I'd have to do the math." I mused, biting into my PB&J. Pietro rolled his eyes and stuffed a handful of pretzels in his gob.

"I would be content with just the years." He remarked, his voice garbled by the amount of food in his mouth. My noise scrunched up and Wanda slapped his shoulder and reprimanded him.

"Does it matter?" I asked, wondering where this was coming from. I was kind of defensive about my age, I had experienced a lot of prejudice in my line of work because of it.

"Not at all, it is just you look much younger when you are not covered head to toe in blood and dirt and are not dressed for battle." He told me candidly reaching his hand back into his chip bag. A frown came to his face and in a blink and a puff of wind he appeared with a couple more bags.

"I get that a lot." I grumbled. I had a young face, so growing up people would ask how old I was. I would respond and get the whole, 'Oh my goodness you look so young I thought you were fourteen!' Thanks baby face.

Once when I was twenty this lady thought I was twelve. That's always a confidence booster, when you're a grown woman and people think you're a preteen. 'It'll be nice when you're older,' well that's not helpful now.

"Maybe it is because you do not wear much makeup?" Wanda suggested. I shrugged my shoulders, even when I did I still looked too young.

"It doesn't help much. I'm 23." A triumphant smile stretched across Pietro's face.

"Ha! So we are older!" I scowled at him.

"Oh please, you two can't be that much older than me."

"We are not, we are only 26." Wanda informed me, rolling her eyes at her brother's antics.

"Yes, but that means we are not the youngest!" He was a little too excited about this.

"Aw looks like someone's still the baby of the team." Natasha teased, coming up behind us and setting her tray on the table next to mine.

"I am not! Vision's barely four days old!" I defended gesturing towards the red man. He looked up at us from his inspection of Pietro's food plate but said nothing. Nat shrugged.

"But he's an all-powerful sentient android with a magical stone giving him life. It doesn't matter how old he is."

"What am I hearing about babies?" Clint asked throwing himself into a chair beside his partner. Oh boy, here comes trouble.

I said, "Nothing," at the same time Natasha said,

"We've determined that Sarah is still the baby of the team." Clint's face lit up mischievously.

"Really? So you're still our baby bird? Cheep, cheep little bird!" He teased making terrible bird noises that gave a whole new meaning to his codename.

"Yeah, yeah I get it, I'm young. And all of you are decrepit and senile." I huffed.

"Hey now little missy, I don't like your tone of voice." Clint joked. "And them be fightin' words."

"What? It's true. You've got to be pushing almost 60, at least." I exaggerated only to push his buttons. Clint scowled and waved his knife menacingly in my direction.

"I'm 44 for your information, you better watch it baby bird."

"Or what you'll impale me with your butter knife?" I replied in an unimpressed tone. Clint smirked and threw the knife at my head with intense accuracy. But I had expected it and quickly swiped it away from me a hand laced in energy.

It was hilarious when Barton got in these playful moods but kept a mock serious expression on his face. Back at Stark Tower we would argue all the time over nothing at all because the two of us thought it was funny. The others did not always feel the same about our bickering.

I pushed a small wave of opaque energy at him in retaliation and it caused his chair to scrape back a couple feet. He narrowed his eyes at me but struggled to keep a smile from gracing his lips.

"That's cheating!" He yelled standing up.

"No it's not!" I shouted back, following his lead and rising from my seat.

"Hey, why don't we calm down?" Wanda said standing up from her seat. She looked uncomfortable, but surely she could sense that we had no ill will towards one another and were just kidding around. Or else she probably would have stepped in.

"Nah, let em take each other out. That means we get more play time on the field." Natasha replied as she ignored us in favor of eating her burger.

"You should respect your elders!"

"Why? Because you're going to die soon from old age?"

"Is there a valid reason for the two of you to act so immaturely?" Vision asked curiously. No one answered him.

"If you keep it up I might not let you live to my 'decrepit' age!"

"Is that a threat _daddy hawk_?"

"Really? You two are causing a scene, cut it out." Steve commented striding towards the table and sitting down next to Vision. I glanced around and sure enough the other agents in the cafeteria were turned in their seats, watching us carefully. Probably hoping for a fight to break out. Well that's embarrassing, I thought as my cheeks heated up. I had completely forgot about them.

"Whoops." I muttered, promptly sitting down as fast as I could. Only to be nailed in the head by a grape.

"Clint!"

"What? I thought we were still going?"

"I sat down you jerk!"

"You're being dramatic, it's just a grape." I glared at him and flicked my wrist in his direction, causing his little vine of grapes of smack him in the face when he sat down.

"It's just grapes." I said in a mocking voice when he frowned at me.

"Are they always like this?" Pietro inquired with a laugh.

"I think it's Barton's fault, he almost never acts his age." Steve commented, grinning at how red my face was and how Clint was trying to pick grape stems off of his shirt.

"Hey man, you're one to talk. You're like a hundred." Clint grumbled. I giggled softly at how put out Steve looked the comment.

"Finest looking hundred year old I've ever seen." Nat interjected, casually sipping on a cup of coffee. Barton rolled his eyes and pretended to gag while Cap puffed up his chest a little at the praise.

Pietro, who was sitting a on the other side of Wanda, leaned across his sister and bluntly said, "You have grape juice on your forehead." Causing Clint to bust out laughing. For a second I just kind of looked at the Maximoff man wondering if he knew how embarrassing that was for him to just announce it like that. But then again, he didn't seem like the type of guy to worry about tact.

I picked up a napkin and wiped away the remnants of the grape and then tossed it Clint who just leaned left to avoid it. All the while laughing his ass off.

"Thanks." I muttered awkwardly to Pietro. He kind of bobbed his head in response and rubbed the back of his neck as his ears turned pink. Oh good, I'm not the only one feeling awkward at that comment.

"So Barton, you're heading back tomorrow?" Steve asked when Clint pulled himself together.

"Yeah man, I can't be gone any longer or Laura will cut off my hands to make sure I never come back." The archer replied.

"Who's Laura?" Wanda questioned. Clint's eyes slid over to the twins carefully. If he didn't want them to know he wouldn't have said anything in front of them. Did he trust them this much already? Nat slyly sent him a look, probably thinking the same as me.

"My wife." He admitted simply. It kinda hurt that it took him four years to tell us, but four days to tell them.

"You have a wife?" Pietro puzzled, he clearly hadn't expected that. Clint nodded his and chewed on one of his sandwiches.

"Yup, and two kids with one on the way." Barton clarified with his mouth full. Ugh, he and Pietro were peas in a pod. "What, is it that hard to believe?" He asked when the twins gave him an odd look. Wanda glanced at her brother and hesitated.

"It is not that, it is just…" She trailed off unsure of how to continue. Pietro picked up after her with,

"We never thought of the Avengers as having families before." I paused in picking up my sandwich and set it back down. It was a strange thing to think about, it made me realize that we were all enemies just a few days ago. And people don't usually think about their enemies having something as normal as families.

This realization seemed to stun the others as well. Most of them didn't have a family anymore. Steve and Natasha didn't for obvious reasons, Tony's parents were killed in a car crash, Bruce never talked about his, Thor's mom died shortly after the Battle of New York and his brother was crazy, and my dad was dead. So Clint was the only one with a complete family. That's why we took the team so seriously, we had all lost people so we relied on each other.

"Well most of us don't, Clint is the only one who hasn't lost any family members. He's our special unicorn." Natasha divulged with a little sarcasm as she always did.

"I still cannot get over that you convinced an actual women to marry you." Pietro snorted. I couldn't tell if he was trying to lighten the mood or if he was just oblivious to the tension that had fallen over the table.

Clint chuckled and ran a hand through his hair.

"I still don't believe it kid. But Laura, she's," He paused with a goofy smile on his, "she's amazing and I still don't know why she puts up with me." I grinned thinking about when we were at their farm and how in love Laura and Clint seemed.

"She must be great if she has not kicked you to the curb yet, Barton." Clint shook his head in disbelief.

"Don't I know it."

"It's because you're just the handsomest archer she's ever seen." Tasha teased, pinching his cheeks like he was a five year old.

"Get off me woman." He grumbled pushing her offending appendage away from his face. Nat smirked and leaned back in her chair.

"Have you decided on a name?" Steve asked.

"Well we were told if we didn't name the baby after his godmother then we'd be strung up by our toes and roasted like a hog, so probably Nathaniel."

"That is a beautiful name." Wanda told him with big smile, she really did have a nice one.

"Thanks." He and Nat said at the same time.

"Anyway, I got to get going. Laura wants me to call her." Clint said pilling his trash onto his tray and grabbing his extra sandwich with his empty hand. "See you guys later." he added walking away from the table followed by a few 'goodbyes'.

"I'm gunna miss having that knuckle head around." Nat commented turning her attention back to her food.

"Yeah me—Ow!" Something nailed the back of my head, it didn't actually hurt it just surprised me. My hand flew to my hair and I grossed out when I felt something squishy. I pulled my hand away and it was a stupid grape. "Clint!" I yelled only to be met with a bodiless cackle.

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 **Hope you all liked it! If you didn't read the comment at the beginning the Maximoffs were speaking in Ukrainian. Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey sorry it's been a while! I haven't had much inspiration for this story. I know where I want it to go but its the filler that progresses it to that point that I'm faltering with. So if yall have any ideas for filler, I'm open for suggestions. This chapter is longer than all the others I think. I made it longer because i haven't posted in a while. Hope you guys enjoy and as always please R &R!**

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A yawn forced its way up and passed through my lips. It was a slow and dreary afternoon and it did nothing to keep me awake. The past couple weeks I had been keeping myself busy by studying Korean. We still weren't allowed to leave so I haven't gone to see Dr. Cho yet. But Helen and I had been face timing every chance we got, when she felt up to it.

Training started up again with Nat and Cap early in the mornings, usually it was just the three of us from the original team. The new recruits trained later in the day working on the basics with Natasha and Steve. And I would help Wanda out with her abilities when she needed it. Our powers weren't the exactly the same, hers was definitely more intricate and complicated and exceedingly more powerful. But we did get them from the same source so I tried to help her out in any way that I could.

If I wasn't training, then I would spend the rest of my day either locked in my room or one of the study rooms playing catch up with Korean. Usually until very late at night. My insomnia looked like it was here to stay for a while. I'd been having nightmares again, or rather they never went away to begin with. So sleep wasn't something I had been keeping up with lately. I couldn't. If I closed my eyes all I would see were aliens, killer robots, and corpses staring at me.

No one said anything about the dark circles under my eyes, at least they hadn't yet. Probably because no one else was sleeping much either. Steve's room was right next to mine, which meant I could hear him getting up in the middle of the night to leave the apartments. And in the morning he was already awake by the time the rest of us were or he was asleep on the couch.

I was worried about him, he had a habit of taking things to heart and taking them hard. And he was a drill sergeant in training. Well I mean he's always been tough to train with but since we got back it's bordering on dictatorship. Nat said to let him be and let him deal with his demons his own way. I just wish that didn't mean I had to get tossed around like a sack of potatoes every morning. And don't even get me started on Natasha, the queen of avoidance and emotional constipation.

So Cap trained like a mad man and fell into the military atmosphere of the facility. While I frantically tried to learn Korean on my trek to ignore my problems. I know it wasn't healthy to push all of my emotions to the back of my mind and study this much, but honestly I still didn't have the emotional or mental capacity to deal with it all yet. I just felt tired all the time, whether that was due to lack of sleep or emotional exhaustion.

We were all feeling it. We all knew what was wrong with one another, but instead of discussing it we refused to acknowledge anything. Very healthy stuff I'm telling you.

"No, try that again. You asked me if my hair had eaten a rainbow." Helen instructed. I groaned loudly and flopped back onto the bed, rubbing my cheeks frustratedly. It's like I had been speaking in tongues the whole day.

"Maybe we should end for the day. You seem like you're having troubles focusing." Helen's voice said coming through the computer. I rolled over onto to my now mostly healed stomach and crawled on top the covers the face the laptop.

Cho was loads better than she had been a few weeks ago. The color was back in her face, her hollowed out eyes were normal again, and she was dressed in a nice dress instead of a hospital gown. That alone did wonders for her.

"I'm fine, just a little tired is all." Helen raised an eyebrow skeptically, clearly not believing me for a second.

"I'm the doctor here and I say that you need to take a break. We can pick this back up in a couple days." I frowned, a couple days?

"Really, it's fine, I'm fi—" a yawn broke out again and Helen gave me a small smirk.

"Get some rest, maybe leave your room for once, Sarah."

"I leave my room." I argued. Helen shook her head and laughed shortly.

"Leaving to go get beat up is not what I mean. Go walk around and do something else. Korean isn't going to become a dead language in two days." I sighed and nodded my head even though I didn't agree. I could probably just study it on my own without her.

"Ok, I'll talk to you later then." I muttered in disappointment.

"Will do."

"Oh, and feel better." I added with a small smile.

Helen returned it and replied, "You too." Before the screen went black and the call ended. I shut my laptop and groaned, slamming my head down onto my purple comforter. It was three o'clock, I guess I should get presentable and head out like Helen suggested. But I didn't want to, I didn't feel up to acting like a human today.

It took a few minutes of just lying there but I worked myself up enough to gather my books and papers together and hop in the shower. When I got out I threw on an old blue t-shirt dress a pair of lion slippers and called it day. I didn't plan on leaving the apartments so I could get away with my weird outfit. Like usual I let my wavy hair air dry and hoped for the best. And by the best I mean I hoped it was a frizzy ball of blonde messiness.

I shuffled out of the room into the hallway and headed to the kitchen. It was quiet per usual, the only people on this side of the facility was the team and sans Nat and Vision. The twins, unlike Vision, didn't venture out much on their own. Steve briefly asked Wanda about it once and she said they felt uncomfortable surrounded by so many unfamiliar faces in a foreign country. And I can't say I blamed them one bit. I mean I'm a part of SHIELD (I still am right?) and I still don't like being here.

And speaking of Wanda, she was seated at the bar with a tea mug in one hand and a book suspended midair in front of her face, a red tinted page turning every few seconds.

"Hey." I greeted, moving around the island to the fridge. I waited a couple seconds but she didn't respond. I glanced over my shoulder and noticed the brunette was completely spaced out.

"Wanda." I tried again as I pulled out the orange juice. Still nothing. That must be a really interesting book.

"So I ate a green unicorn today." Nothing. I sighed and strode over to her and slammed the juice carton onto the counter. She gasped, her eyes flying to my face and her book toppled down out of the air.

"Oh, Sarah. You startled me." Wanda confessed, pushing a stray hair behind her ear. I pulled a glass out of the cabinet and poured the orange juice into it.

"You ok?" I asked, it was unlike her to be so oblivious to her surroundings. Pietro yes, her no. She nodded slowly and carefully picked up her book to smooth out the bent pages.

"Yes, I was just reading."

"What are you reading?" I asked casually, leaning against the counter.

"I…uh… _The Great and Vast North American Wildlife_ apparently." She grimaced, reading the cover of the book for what looked like the first time.

"Sounds intriguing." I commented dryly. Wanda sighed and closed the book.

"I was not reading it." She confessed. I gave her a soft smile.

"I figured."

"I was thinking about…well everything. I cannot get it out of my mind. It just keeps playing and playing, over and over again." She confided, massaging her temple slowly.

"It's exhausting isn't it?"

"It is!" She blurted out, and then ducked her head at her outburst, looking around as if there would be someone to reprimand her. I took the stool next to her and sipped on my juice.

"Maybe you need to talk to someone about it?" I suggested.

"I do. I talk to Pietro." She insisted, "And Clint when he can and sometimes Vision." Wanda added. Maybe not the most qualified people to discuss things with.

"I was thinking more along the lines of a professional. But I'm glad you're at least talking to others." Wanda stared at her tea.

"What about you? You have talked to a doctor before, right?" I nodded in response.

"Yeah, I've actually talked to her a few times since we've been back."

"And you think it helps?" I shrugged.

"Sometimes. I guess it depends on the person, but it can be really helpful and relieve a lot of the stress. But it can also be a little daunting to have to give away your private thoughts like that." I warned her. Worth it for your mental health in the long run but uncomfortable at the time.

"I will consider it then." Wanda confirmed, smiling at me. She didn't seem to share the same sense of hesitancy that I had about shrinks. Which was good albeit a little surprising though.

"Good. And if you need better reading material, Tony just sent over all my books a few days ago. You can borrow some if you like once I get them unpacked. Or we can go into town, if they let us." That was a fool's dream.

"Or we could just sneak out." Wanda speculated with a wicked look in her blue eyes. I grinned at the thought of sneaking of the compound late one night just to go buy books. Such a mischievous act for something so innocent.

"Steve would have a coronary." I reminded her. Wanda shrugged and placed her mug down.

"It would be worth it if I did not have to read this nonsense anymore." She replied gesturing towards the abandoned book.

"Hey have some respect! There are some great North American wildlife in that book!" I laughed.

"Sure, sure." Wanda responded, rolling her eyes.

The front door opened up and Nat strolled in dressed in her combat suit and an IPad in hand.

"I got two of them here." Nat said, heels clicking on the flooring as she came closer. Who is she talking to? She flipped the device around and there was Clint grinning back at us.

"Hey!" I greeted excitedly, sticking my face closer to the screen.

"Clint, how are you?" Wanda asked with a huge grin on her face.

"Good, super tired I've been—"

"Yeah, yeah that's great. Show us Nathaniel!" I interrupted joyfully. The Bartons had welcomed their new baby into the world a whole day ago and there had yet to be any pictures! It was outrageous!

"Show us the baby bird!" Wanda demanded happily.

"Jeez, so pushy. I'm wonderful thank you. Why yes I did get a new haircut, lovely of you to notice! The weather has also been extremely pleasant here." Clint complained while moving the screen around and went out of focus for a minute, but when it came back to there was little Nathaniel sleeping soundly in Laura arms. Wanda and I both made cooing noises and ooed and awed. He was perfect! Just the cutest little baby you've seen! All bald and, and just perfect.

"Laura he's beautiful." I sniffled.

"He really is." Wanda confirmed with watery eyes. I noticed she really liked cute things, puppies and babies in particular.

"Thanks guys." Laura replied sleepily. She was all wrapped up in a blanket, sitting in a rocking chair. And even though she just had a baby yesterday, she looked like a million bucks.

"Yep, our little Nathaniel Francis Barton. The kid's love him." Barton said with the proudest look I've ever seen on his face.

"I can see why." I commented. Their baby was just perfect, and I couldn't think of a better word to describe him. Because he was just…perfect!

"Yeah he's a keeper for sure." Nat piped up, smiling at her godson.

"Congratulations you two, I pray you have a fast recovery Mrs. Barton." Wanda addressed.

"Thanks, Wanda."

"We're going to let you go now, I think little Nate needs a change." Clint told us with a scrunched up face. "Laura I think it's your turn." He joked before handing off his phone to his wife and scooping up the baby.

"I wouldn't bet your life on it." Her voice said as the camera jumbled around before finding her face.

"We'll talk to you later guys. Bye!" Laura called out smiling tiredly. Nat set the IPad down when the screened flickered off. Glancing at my footwear the red head commented,

"Nice slippers." With a raised eyebrow. I almost never knew when Nat was being serious or not, it was one of her specialties. So her raised eyebrow it could either be in an impressed or unimpressed way. How did she manage to look so ambiguous?

"You can borrow them if you want." I told her.

"I might take you up on that. Sadly I need you two to get dressed, there's someone waiting for us. Actually a couple someones." She informed us.

"Who?" Wanda queried, dumping her cold coffee down drain and placing her mug on the rack.

"A guy named Sam Wilson, he might be joining the team."

"Seriously?" I asked, my interest peaked. We sure were adding on a bunch of new people recently, I thought while chugging the rest of my juice.

"Yup, so meet us in the hangar in ten, and bring Vision and Pietro if you see them." Nat ordered shortly before walking back out the door.

"Wait who's the other one?" Wanda asked me when Nat left.

"No clue. But I'm sure we'll find out soon enough. Any idea where the other two are?" I asked, placing my glass in the dishwasher.

"Pietro is still asleep, and I believe Vision is wondering around the intel division." Is he even allowed to be there? Or could they not keep him out would most likely be the better question.

"Pietro's still asleep? It's the middle of the afternoon." I retorted, astonished at the speedster's ability to sleep the day away. Doesn't he need to eat? Wanda sighed and brushed her hands across her skirt.

"He has not been getting good rest at night." She told me simply, "He says it is easier to sleep when the sun is up." The Maximoff woman further explained. I frowned, that wasn't good to hear. She sighed again, "Maybe I should get him to talk to someone else too."

"Maybe." We separated temporarily as Wanda went to wake her brother up and I went to get changed into my uniform. The one from Sokovian had been completely trashed, so much so that I had to get a new one.

Tony tweaked it this time and changed it up a little. It was still made of that durable fabric but now it the gray was so dark it was almost black. And one the chest and back he added a few red dots. He said it was because ladybird was another term for ladybugs so he thought he'd make the uniform more fitting to my name. That idiot. But it looked fine so whatever.

Stark also made official uniforms for the Maximoffs, Nat was especially pleased with this because she was still sore about Wanda taking her jacket.

"This is the first time I've worn it, how does it look?" Wanda asked when we rejoined in the hallway. She was self-consciously pulling on it and adjusting her outfit.

"It looks great." I told her honestly. She had on a red leather jacket, made from the same material as my suit and black pants to match. We were kind of the reverse of each other.

"See I told you it looked fine." Pietro grumbled, rubbing his face sleepily. Speaking of uniforms that looked good…

"Yes, but you're a man, your opinion means little." Wanda reminded him. The light haired man shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Oh yes, of course how could I forget." He replied sarcastically. He looked over at me and grinned. "Would you also like an opinion on how you look?"

"Only if you want one back." I snorted. I hadn't meant to reply so sassily. Pietro laughed and walked to the other side of me.

"I always appreciate being told how attractive I am." He replied in a cavalier manner.

"Wow, I was just going to say you look fine, Mr. Arrogant." There's no way I hell I would ever say what I was actually thinking. Which was that he was extremely attractive with his tight shirt and pants and…I'm going to stop thinking now.

I quickly glanced at Wanda, hoping that she wasn't listening to my thoughts. Luckily she was shaking her head at her brother and not paying much attention to how much heat was rising in my cheeks.

"That is slang for being hot as well, is it not?" Pietro grinned.

"It can be, but that's not how I'm using it."

"Sure." Pietro commented swaggering on ahead of us, with a stupid smirk on his face.

* * *

"Rhodey!" I exclaimed, jogging over to the Lieutenant Colonel who was standing in hangar. Of course! That made complete sense, Rhodey had been around since the beginning of the team but he was never an official member.

"Hey, Sarah. How're you doing?" He asked, accepting my side hug.

"I'm great! Does this mean what I think it means?" I asked excitedly. Rhodey grinned proudly and responded,

"Well if you're thinking that Stark thought it'd be a good time to finally let me join your little clique. Then yes it does." Why does everyone think we're a clique?

"Congrats! It's about time."

"I guess my help in Sokovia really upped my chances for admission." Rhodey beamed. I stared at him in confusion. Wait what was he talking about?

"You were in Sokovia?"

"What do you mean was I there?" He asked looking heavily affronted. "Of course I was there! I helped Tony take down dozens of those robot bastards."

"Sorry, I don't remember you being there." I told him truthfully, cringing when his eyes widened comically.

"Oh come on! I came in with the helicarriers." He said in attempt to spark a memory.

"Sorry, James I had no idea you were there. It was kind of a hectic time I don't even remember half the stuff that went down." I felt bad that I didn't remember but in my defense we were standing on a flying city with metal men trying to murder us.

"Ok, well I was there. I did help." Rhodey informed me firmly.

"I believe you." I said putting my hands in surrender. This was not a good way to start our new team relationship. Whoops.

"Mhmm." He was all put off now, but I couldn't help it if I didn't remember him! Maybe I should have just lied. A voice cleared behind us and I turned to face our other three new members.

"Oh, sorry. Rhodey this is Vision, and Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. They're on the team now too. Guys this is Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes of the U.S. Military. Also known as War Machine."

"War Machine? That name is highly provocative." Vision commented with a frown.

"I like it." Rhodey defended.

"You would." Pietro muttered under his breath with a scowl. I elbowed his arm, this was not the time to be starting fights with new teammates. He glared weakly at me but didn't comment any further. I guess his trust in Americans hadn't improved as much as I thought in the past few weeks.

"Regardless, it is a pleasure to meet you Colonel." Vision said politely shaking James' hand.

"Thanks, I'm glad to have the opportunity." Rhodey replied in a very political way.

"So are you going to be living with us or are you going to be staying in Washington?" I questioned.

"I'm going to stay for a couple days to get acquainted with the team. But I need to head out after that and get back to work."

"You will not be permanent here then?" Vision inquired.

"Nope, sorry I can't stay at the frat house."

"Frat house?" Wanda asked confusedly. Rhodey gave her a questioning look, it wasn't her fault they didn't have frats back in Sokovia.

"Uh, it's a house where a bunch of fraternity guys live." Rhodey said unhelpfully.

"It's a negative stereotype of a big place where young people party all the time and get drunk." I clarified for them.

"Oh, then this place is not that much fun." Pietro commented.

"You would like to get drunk all the time?" Wanda repeated dryly, giving her brother a disapproving stare. He shrugged and jammed his hands into his pockets. Why did his uniform get pockets? I want pockets.

"Not exactly, but you must admit it can be very dull here." Wanda rolled her eyes but rebounded with,

"I admit that it would be nice to at least go into town to see the city."

"Why haven't you then?" Rhodey asked.

"We're on lock down after Sokovia, they don't want us out in the media while all of this blows over." I told him sourly. It had been over a month; I think it would be ok for us to meander out of the facility without causing an uproar. Tony got to so why not us?

"Well then I am definitely not staying here." The Colonel joked. I gave him a tight smile because in all honesty just staying here all the time was killing my soul.

"So, Natasha said we're supposed to be meeting someone else. Any ideas on who this Sam Wilson is?"

"That would be me." A man said walking in through the doors. "I'm Sam Wilson." He added shaking hands with Rhodey.

"James Rhodes. You a military man?"

"Airforce." Sam corrected. Wanda and I looked at each other and smiled. He was cute. Never seen him before though, although the name did ring a bell.

"Who invited you?"

"Steve did, we got tangled up with the Winter Soldier a while back with Romanoff." That's right! Now I remember.

"I remember him talking about you. He said something about wings?" I joined in. Sam grinned at me and I jumped back at the sudden expanse of metal wings that flung out from the contraption strapped to his body.

"That is amazing!" Pietro exclaimed, moving around to look at the wings with a childlike expression on his face.

"Very impressive." I agreed, doing much of the same with a big smile.

"And these are light enough to allow flight?" Vision asked. Sam nodded enthusiastically.

"Pretty cool right?"

"Yeah, how come I've never heard of these in the Airforce?" Rhodey cut in looking slightly put off.

"There are only a few of us who manned the team. We were pretty low profile." That almost sounded like a jab at Rhodey's War Machine suit and how ostentatiously it was flounced around. My lips quirked up in amusement.

"Well it's nice to meet you." I said sticking out my hand, "I'm Sarah Byrd."

"Same to you. Steve talks a lot about his team. It kinda feels weird actually meeting you now."

"Oh? All good things I hope."

"Well he certainly never mentioned how good looking his teammates are." Sam teased winking at Wanda and I. Oh jeez another flirt. "Did you bring your suit with you?" He asked turning his attention to Rhodey.

"Of course, man." So Rhodey put on his suit for us to gawk at. I wasn't too impressed by it, I had been looking at these suits for years and the wonderment kind of dwindles after a while. But Sam and the others thought it was great, even if the twins were a little cautious of it.

I heard the door open down below and I glanced over the edge to look down at the hangar. Steve and Nat walked in wearing their gear garb, Natasha waved us down.

"I guess that's our cue." I told the rest of the group, leaping over the railing and breaking my fall with a glob of energy at my feet. Wanda followed suit and lowered herself down on a stream of red energy. Sam, Rhodey and Vision flew down to the ground, leaving Pietro to race to the stairs. And of course he still beat us all down there.

"Avengers." Cap nodded to each of us, drawing out the word as he was about to say something extremely important. "This is our new team." I frowned. Well that was rather redundant and anticlimactic, we already figured that out, I thought in disappointment.

"Now I know that we look a little shabby right now because we hardly have any experience with each other. But I know that we can whip into shape in no time. Have you already met Colonel Rhodes?" When they nodded he continued. "Good, he's only going to be with us for a couple days. But Sam Wilson," He gestured over to our newest member, "will be a permanent resident here."

He talked for a while about how he planned to get us to work as a team, and it was lot more focused that any other previous attempt we had had at it. Mostly because even though the old Avengers team was far from a completely cohesive unit, we didn't really have practices together and we certainly all didn't live together. I kinda felt more like the X-men at the moment than the Avengers. It was a work in progress.

"Nat what did Fury say about Bruce?" I asked once Steve had finished his spiel. Fury made a passing comment the night before that they might have some new info on our missing teammate but he never followed up.

"The jet was found in the ocean, but no sign of Banner. He has probably swum miles away from the wreckage by now to some random island."

"We'll find him." I told her hopefully. Nat tried to mirror my smile but it fell a little short.

"Of course we will." Steve confirmed, squeezing Natasha's shoulder. A looked passed between the three of us. We were all that was that was left of the original team. Tony was back in NYC with pepper, Clint with his family, Thor in is kingdom, and Bruce was MIA. It felt weird that we were basically starting over at square one.

Suddenly everyone's comment about us being a clique didn't seem so strange anymore. We weren't necessarily a clique but we were a family. And it was going to be a big change in our dynamics to be accepting all these new people into our circle.

"So question, I don't have to run around in spandex like you right Steve?" Sam joked, breaking up the heavy air that had fallen onto us.

"Only if you want to. I highly suggest it." Steve commented after a brief pause.

"I think I'll pass, leave the showy costumes to the professionals."

Cap rolled his eyes and slapped Wilson, who jerked forward awkwardly, on the back. "Thanks Buddy."

* * *

"Hey, Pietro do you—" He slammed his computer shut so quickly for a moment I had to process if I had actually seen it open to begin with. He whipped around in his chair and I cringed at how intense his expression was.

If looks could kill…

"Uh…you know SHIELD monitors our internet activity. So you probably shouldn't be watching porn." I teased. And you probably should be doing that in your own room. I added mentally. I knew he wasn't actually watching porn in our library room but shutting that thing so quickly was certainly suspicious.

"That is not what I was doing." He told me moodily, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at me. Ooookkkkayyy, normally if I accused him of things of that nature he either went all flirty or got embarrassed. And right now he was neither.

"Then what why did you slam the computer shut?" I asked raising an eyebrow, stepping into the room fully and trying my best not to glare back at him.

"It is none of your business." Pietro replied, subtly pushing his laptop away from him and farther out of my reach. I narrowed my eyes, that just made me more suspicious.

"Then why are you being so suspicious?"

He scoffed and looked away from me, a dark expression on his face.

"Are you always going to assume the worst in me?" That was hurtful and uncalled for. And not to mention totally out of character. He hasn't been this bitter since before Sokovia.

"I am not! I was just joking around with you, jeez if I had known you were going to so weird about it I wouldn't have said anything."

"Then maybe you should be quiet then, yes?"

"What is with you today? Why are you so angry? You realize you're vibrating right?" He was so agitated that his body was blurring in and out of focus. It was concerning to say the least, it looked like he was about to burst into a million pieces.

"It does not concern you Sarah believe it or not. You do not always have to stick your nose where it does not belong. Now run along like a good little Avenger and go snoop somewhere else." He sneered coldly. Well that escalated quickly.

"What the hell is your problem?" I snapped at him, feeling anger rising up in my belly. Who was snooping? He was in a public space for crying out loud!

"You are just annoying is all." He said cruelly, shrugging his shoulders.

"Ha! Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black." I shot back.

"Are you calling me annoying?"

"If the shoe fits."

"Pathetic, you are so childish."

"Don't be like that! Or you know what? Do, I really don't care." I replied scathingly.

"Whatever, I am busy so if you could leave, that would be great." He scoffed rudely.

"Fine then, I was going to ask if you wanted to come on a run with me but I'll just ask Sam. At least he's not an asshole for no reason." I yelled furiously before slamming the door shut behind me so fiercely that it rattled the windows.

I saw him like two hours ago and he was completely normal! Or as normal as Pietro Maximoff got anyway. What could have possibly happened in that time span?

"What's going on, I heard shouting?" Steve asked popping his head up from the couch.

"I have no idea, you'll have to ask Pietro."

"Oh, uh did he kiss you or something—" Two hours ago that would have been a completely plausible assumption! But now…oooooh he was so freaking annoying! Stupid man!

"No, Steve, of course not. I'm going for a run, I'll be back later." I bit out angrily.

"Ok then." Steve said, shrinking down in his seat to avoid my anger. I didn't bother to go find Sam, he was training with Wanda at the moment and I didn't really want to explain why I was so angry. Sure Pietro and I don't always get along, and we banter back and forth. But it's like when I fight with Clint, it doesn't mean anything. But all of a sudden it's like someone's stepping on his balls or something.

Stupid Pietro. Stupid laptop. What is his problem? He's acting like I accused him of murder! He was being weird about the computer so I teased him like always. And now it's like he's got a stick up his ass, maybe Vision peed in his cereal or something. God, what an asshole!

I was fuming by the time I got outside. The poor agents I passed on the way smartly moved out of my path. I would probably feel bad later for being rude but I did not care one bit at the moment. Stupid Pietro. And that stupid expression he had on his face, it reminded me too much of how he looked when I had first met him over a month ago. There was so much hurt and anger and resentment in his eyes that it was like getting punched in the gut when it was directed at you.

But all I did was ask him what he was doing! Would he have had the same reaction if Wanda had asked? NO! So why was he getting all upset at me? And why was it angering me so much! Ugh, I was usually pretty good at keeping a lid on my anger and letting things roll of my back. But for some reason the Sokovian was exceptionally good at getting under my skin. That stupid prat.

I ran through the trail in the woods that looped around the compound trying to clear my head. Or least calm down enough that I didn't have to worry about taking Pietro's head off when I went back inside. There were a few agents jogging, but I was doing my best to exhaust the frustration out of me by running as fast as I could. If I wasn't so pissed I would have laughed at the surprised expressions of the SHIELD agents when I blew past them.

Somewhere on lap four I took a break and slumped onto a rock. I was still pretty upset but the sun was beginning to go down so I figured I should head back. I had never been much of a runner, I still don't like it at all, it just feels like extra work. But it was a thousand times better than being inside with that numpty.

I retied my tennis shoes and fixed my hair into a messy bun, frowning when some stray pieces escaped. I was in the mood where anything could annoy me. And that was not a good place to be. I wasn't going back to the apartments just yet; it was dinner time right now and that meant interacting with the team. Instead I made my way to the cafeteria, I know I swore it off a couple weeks ago but I was not in the mood to see Pietro's stupid face.

It wasn't as uncomfortable as it used to be, but people still stared when I walked in. Quickly, I grabbed a tray and hopped in line. I just wanted to keep my head down, grab some food and then retreat to my room to study a bit more. But others had a different idea.

"Sarah! Hey, Byrd! Over here!" I glanced around frantically, trying to figure out who was calling me so I could get them to stop making a scene. My eyes landed on Ray who was unfortunately right in the middle of the cafeteria. I forced a smile and waved back slowly and with much less enthusiasm before shuffling over.

"Hey, Ray." I said weakly as I got closer. Ray strode over and grabbed my tray from my hands.

"Come on girly, you're sitting us." Alrighty then, there goes my plan of having a quiet and peaceful dinner by myself. A random agent who was sitting with Ray pulled up an extra chair and fit it into the table, slapping the back of it to signal for me to take it.

"What brings you to the cafeteria, I haven't seen any of you Avengers around her in a while." Ray asked digging into his mash potatoes.

"We usually eat in our kitchen, most of us aren't used to the whole SHIELD scene." I replied avoiding his question. I didn't want to bring other agents into our team drama.

"That's too bad, who's that one chick that just joined the team? Scarlet Witch right? She's hot, you should bring her back." The agent who pulled over a chair for me commented. He was a normal looking dude, standard SHIELD agent with neatly trimmed hair and a pristine shirt.

"Oh Wanda? Is that what they're calling her? She probably wouldn't come if Pietro or Vision didn't." I said trying not scowl when I said his name. Ok now I was probably just being petty now. Not that I particularly cared.

"Shame." The agent pouted, not looking too cut up about it.

"You were a SHIELD agent before right?" Another agent, Michaels his badge read, asked me. I nodded and pushed around my green beans.

"I still am, at least I think so." I sighed, "I'm not sure the lines got kind of messy somewhere along the way." I actually wasn't sure where I stood with SHIELD. I hadn't had an official mission in a couple years because I had been living off and on at Stark Tower. And after Fury went down and SHIELD puttered out, I hadn't been in much contact with the organization. Until now that is.

"You were a linguist though?"

"Mhmm, not as good as Raymond here, but I do well enough to qualify." I'm not bitter...

"Why haven't we seen you down there working with us?"

"They won't let any of start working again with others for another couple weeks." I replied keeping my answer simple and short.

"That's a bummer."

I shrugged uncaringly, even though it was killing me.

"These are all my buddies from the department." Ray interjected. "Michaels, Barner, Almasi, Garcia, Kelly and Sow." He pointed to each person and they gave varies waves, salutes and hellos.

"Nice to meet you all. I'm Sarah Byrd." Almasi, I think his name was, the guy with a black man bun, spoke up with a grin,

"We know who you are."

"Right." I accepted weakly, looking down at my green beans again. This was getting awkward, or maybe I was just an awkward person but I really don't like being surrounded by strangers. Especially when they know so much about me. Who knows what they learned after Natasha dumped all of our SHIELD info on the internet.

"So you got your powers from Loki, the alien who attacked New York?" Kelly(?) asked. His question seemed harmless enough, but I was already in a terrible mood and talking about Loki just turned everything more sour.

"What about it?" I asked dangerously, my face settling into a very Clint-like blankness. He better tread lightly.

"Well it was with his scepter right? The same one that was used to control Agent Barton?" My eyes narrowed, was this dinner or an interrogation?

"You read the report I'm guessing."

Kelly nodded his head, pushing his thick rimmed glasses farther up onto the bridge of his nose.

"Correct. Agent Barton was the _only_ one on your team to befall Loki's spell?" I bristled at his question, just where exactly was he going with this?

"I'm sorry but is line of questioning going anywhere or are you just trying to stir up trouble? Because believe me, I am not the kind of person you want to piss off just because you're curious."

"Aright guys come on, let's not talk work at the dinner table." Ray said cutting in, shooting daggers at his workmate.

"Hey no harm done, I'm just wondering if anything was left out of the files." I gave him an incredulous look trying to determine what this guy was playing at. You don't ask these kinds of questions. And certainly not to someone of higher rank. This was profession of lies and secrets, and that meant that our secrets tended to stay that way. He must be new…or dull.

"Even there was, it's none of your business."

"Don't mind him, he's just too curious for his own good. Like a cat." Agent Sow covered, in an attempt to pacify the situation.

"Yeah just ignore him, he's from the intel division. That's what we do." Barner commented, not looking up from his plate.

"Hey, I was just asking!" Kelly defended.

"This isn't the kind of work place to 'just ask' questions." Almasi pipped up. They started arguing back and forth with Ray throwing in the occasional comment, it was reminiscent to how my time in SHIELD was. I felt like such a Debbie downer but I suddenly felt out of place. It was just one of those days where no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't interact normally with others for whatever reason.

"I think I should head back." I announced deciding that I had enough for the night. Ray's face fell and he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Oh no Sarah come on you don't have to leave." He disagreed, a frown present on his features. I shook my head and gathered my untouched food onto my tray. I felt a little guilty that I wasn't staying long enough to actually talk to him, but with my attitude right now, I was no use to anyone. I could find him later.

"No it's fine, I have some things I have to work on for the team." I lied, knowing I wouldn't be questioned on it.

"Sarah, at least finish your food." I knew he felt bad about his partner's loose tongue, it wasn't his fault. And the guy probably didn't mean anything by, or maybe he did. But either way I was at the end of my rope for the day and my patients was wearing thin. I didn't need to snap in front of all these people.

"Ray I've had a long day and I'd rather just go back my apartments." He sighed and ran his hand over his red hair a couple times.

"Ok, well I'm around if you want to talk." I cringed inwardly. The couple times I had seen him since I've been here, he's told me the same thing. And not once have I sought him out. We weren't as close as we used to be and honestly I didn't want to rehash old memories with him. I was an awful person for it and the guilt gnawed at my stomach, but it was better for my sanity this way.

"Sure thing." I responded with a small smile, hoping it would be enough to appease him. He didn't look to convinced but he smiled back none the less.

"Way to offend an Avenger asshat." Sow hissed to Kelly as I walked away.

To my dismay, the team was still eating dinner when I came in. Wanda turned around and waved.

"Oh good, Sarah we saved you a plate." She smiled, pointing to a plate in my normal seat next to Steve. Wanda and Vision had unofficially been dubbed the house cooks and they had been trying out all types of recipes. It was hit or miss, but the gesture was always appreciated. And it gave them something to do at least.

"Thanks, I'm good though. I ate in the cafeteria." A frown formed on her beautiful face.

"No you didn't." I glared at her.

" _Wanda_." I chided, she knew she wasn't supposed to read our minds without our permission. Her cheeks flared red and she apologized quickly,

"It was a slip, I'm sorry." She said genuinely. The Sokovian had been doing really well in terms of boundaries since she started training, a mess up was bound to happen. I waved her off.

"It's fine, I'm going to bed. I'll eat a big breakfast in the morning." I added just to keep her and Steve from reprimanding me about it. Pietro wisely didn't make a peep, instead he focused on picking at his pasta. I scowled at the back of his head. "See you in the morning." I said without waiting for anyone else to make a case for me to stay.

* * *

I huffed and rolled over, burying my face deeper into my blanket. Blearily I read my alarm clock. 1:14. Why am I up right now? It's too late, or early I guess. There was a soft knock at the door. Oh right, I had heard something. I sleepily pushed my hair out of my face and rubbed my cheeks. Did Ray somehow get into the wing and find my room? God I hope not. It's probably Wanda.

Another knock on the door caused me to sit up on the bed with a groan. I had finally fallen asleep and now someone decided to wake me up. Oh joy. Good thing I didn't dress like all the women on TV who only wore lingerie. I had on a large t-shirt and running shorts, decent enough to answer the door. Slowly I trudged across the floor and pried the door open, squinting at the light in the hallway.

"What?" I croaked, my voice raspy from sleep.

"Sarah?"

"Pietro? What are you doing here?" His voice had cracked a little and it instantly put me on alert. I couldn't make out his features because the hall light behind him blackened out his face.

"I uh," He cleared his throat," can I come in?" He asked uncomfortably, looking past me into my room. Even half asleep I could sense his nervousness. It was infectious.

"Sure." I replied groggily, opening up the door wider for him. I shuffled back to my bed, and paused before turning around and punching him square in the chest. He didn't bother to move out of the way, instead letting my tiny fist bump into him. I think I hurt my hand more than him…

"Hey!" He yelled, startled at my sudden actions.

"I just remembered I'm mad at you." I explained, crawling back onto my and flopping back down onto my stomach. I was still angry but too tired to do anything else about it.

"Oh, should I leave then?"

"You already woke me up."

Pietro nodded slowly, shut the door and awkwardly stood in the middle of the room looking around. He had been in my room once a couple weeks, but it was before I had all my stuff brought in from Stark Tower. It was lot homier and personalized than it had been and not as many boxes. Not that you could really tell when the lights were off.

"You can take a seat." I mumbled, feeling weird about him just standing there. "In the chair, Maximoff." I clarified, kicking his hip with my bare foot when he sat at the edge of my bed.

Pietro chuckled nervously and moved over my window seat, "Right, sorry." He picked up one of the pillows and fluffed it in his lap.

I was having trouble keeping my eyelids open, they kept shutting against my will. I think I might have dozed off when Pietro called my name.

"Sarah, did you fall asleep?"

"Mhmm." I hummed.

"Oh, ok." He was being oddly reserved. I didn't like it, it was weird. He was being weird today. Oh yeah, I was supposed to be mad at him, I remembered sleepily.

"Pietro why are you here?" I asked again.

"I could not sleep."

"Why didn't you go to Wanda then?" I complaiend, running a hand over my face.

"I have woken her up every night for the past month. I feel bad keeping her from sleep."

"But you have no problems doing it to me?" He shrugged noncommittally and played with my pillow absentmindedly.

"I figured you would be up, you usually are at this time." He wasn't wrong. This is the first time I had gone to bed this early in weeks. I didn't realize he had noticed though.

I nodded into my pillow. I was too sleepy to get mad at him again, I knew I should have been but it was too late at night. Wait till morning, I'll be pissed off again.

"So you want a story or something? I'm not very good at them." I muttered, thinking back to the night we spent in the med bay right after the battle in Sokovia.

"Ah, no that is ok."

"Warm milk?"

"No, don't need you to do anything."

"I'm confused then, why are you here?" I grumbled, hoping he would leave soon so I could sleep.

"I am feeling guilty, about what I said to you earlier." Good he should be.

"Good, you should be." I scoffed.

"I was angry, but not with you. I just…" He paused and stopped messing with the pillow. I held in another sigh, ok so he wasn't going anywhere for a while, meaning I wouldn't be going back to sleep anytime soon. I pushed myself up and tuned around to lean against the wall so I could face Pietro, pulling my blanket up around me.

I couldn't make out his expression in the dark, but he was hunched over with hand arms resting on his knees. His body language was closed off and uncomfortable. Maybe he was working up the courage to say what he wanted or maybe he was just trying to put together his words.

In what little light there was shining in behind my blinds, I saw his head pop up and then he was gone. Only to appear right in front of my face, the bedding dipping under his weight.

"Ahck!" I sputtered at the suddenness of his proximity as my sleepy brain attempted to process his inhuman speed.

"Sorry," He mumbled kneeling in front of me on the bed, holding his laptop in his hands. "You wanted to know what I was looking at?" I nodded slowly, trying desperately not to blush at how close he was. He had been shirtless this entire time? I must be tired if I hadn't noticed _that_.

Pietro clambered over next to me and opened up his computer, both of us wincing at the brightness of the screen. He fiddled with it for a few seconds trying to lower it, so I reached over and did it for him when I got bored of being blinded.

He messed with the laptop for a minute before pulling up a few articles. Even though I couldn't read Sokovian, I instantly knew that they were updates on the refugees and the missing civilians. Wordlessly, he passed over the computer and I pulled it into my lap.

This was something that I had avoided doing. It was torture. To just be reading through all the horror stories of families being blown apart, entire units dying of horrible deaths, the endless pictures of 'have you seen me?'. It was awful. I didn't need to speak Sokovian to know exactly what I was looking at. I had done the same thing after New York.

Why did everything always go back to New York?

I remember sitting on my computer for hours, sobbing at how many people had died, how many I couldn't save. Thinking that maybe if I had trained harder or trained longer or maybe tried harder or if someone else had been there instead that more people could have gone home to their families. It was survivor's guilt, and by taking one look at Pietro's face, I could see that it was close to consuming him.

"Pietro…" I murmured softly unsure of what to say. It was hard to stay pissed off at him when he looked like he was going to crumble. He was wearing a hard expression, like he was trying to restrain himself from losing it again.

"I did not want to tell you because I knew you would not approve." He was right, I didn't think this was helpful to healing his psyche at all. It was ruining him. I nodded solemnly, chewing on my lower lip. I was looking for something to say, something that would be helpful. And not much was coming to mind.

"I knew you would say that it will only make me feel worse." I would have said that. "And it does." He whispered, shutting his eyes tightly and rolling his hands into fists. "It is my fault. Mine and Wanda's. I should have known that Ultron was selfish and that he would make things worse. But I did not think that—" He broke off, grinding his teeth together. He looked so pained that I suddenly felt helpless, I had no idea what to say to him, we weren't very close. So I just let him speak.

"It is my fault; I am the older brother I should not have allowed this to happen." He gritted out. Tears were forming in his eyes and that made the corners of mine prickle. "And Wanda—God, Wanda she blames herself! She thinks that because she reads minds that she should have known. But it is not her fault, it is mine! I have caused everyone so much pain and I—I should have known!" He cried. I was definitely not expecting this earlier in the day.

"Pietro, there's no way you could have predicted that this—"

"I should have known!" He shouted again angrily, "I should have known better! I should have ran faster and cleared more people out, I should have figured it out earlier, I should have never let us join Ultron, I should have just walked away and taken Wanda and just, just, just…I don't know! But I should have done something! Anything else would have been better." Pietro was shaking again, or rather vibrating. I could feel it in the wall he was leaning against and it was moving the bed as well. I wonder if he could move his molecules fast enough to move through the way? I'll save that for another time.

"Ultron would have attacked Sokovia regardless of whether or not you and Wanda helped. And if not Sokovia he would have found somewhere else."

"You don't know that!" Pietro yelled slamming his fist down onto the bed in the space between us. My hand flew to his, to keep him from lashing out any further. His actions weren't scarring me as much as the tears pouring down his cheeks were.

"You don't know either, maybe this was the path of least destruction." I attempted to reason, wiping away my own tears. He shook his head and looked upwards with a joyless smile on his face.

"I just…I do not know what to do. I feel so angry, all the time, and I want to cry constantly." I stared at him, I knew that they were suffering but to this extent… "I just wish I could fix everything."

"Yeah, but sometimes you can't change the world, just your own." That got a depressed laugh out of him.

"Sometimes I do not think I can even do that." Pietro said grimly.

"We're in the same boat." I admitted quietly, tightening my grip on his hand. He rolled his head in my direction and locked eyes with me. He looked exhausted, in every sense of the word. The light coming from the computer highlighted the bags under his eyes but the way he kept his eyes open wide made him younger than he was.

"What do I do then?" He asked. I released a shaky breath and shrugged. When did I become the Maximoff twin's personal advisor?

"I don't think I'm the right person to ask. I just keep myself so busy and stay up so late that I don't give myself time to think about it."

"What about your therapist?" He questioned bluntly, wiping at his runny nose.

"She wants me to come more. I don't know, sometimes I feel like she makes it worse."

"Then what is the point of her?" I laughed sadly and shrugged again with a slight shake of my head.

"I don't know." Pietro patted my hand and said,

"Well, you can come talk to me then. I am sure I am much more fun than that lady." I choked out a another laugh. "Aren't I supposed to tell you that? You're the one who came to me crying." But at least he was no longer vibrating.

"I guess we will have to lean on each other then, yes?" Too emphasize he shifted his weight and pressed his shoulder against mine, leaning into me. I stuck my arm out to prevent us from toppling over.

"Metaphorically, sure. But you're kind of heavy." I smiled, pushing him back up with my shoulder. I tried not to notice how warm his arm was, or the fact that he still wasn't wearing a shirt. Did he know how distracting he was? Pietro laughed and leaned back into a sitting position.

I stared at him in wide eyed disbelief. Here he was cracking jokes with tears still lingering on his cheeks while two seconds ago he was hysterical. Talk about whip lash emotions.

"What did you mean earlier when you said I was being ugly? Was I making a strange face?" Pietro asked rather abruptly. So I guess we were changing the subject then. I shook my head.

"No, don't take it literally. It means that you were being unreasonably rude and incredibly hurtful basically."

"Oh, then why did you not just say that?" He questioned in a confused tone.

"It's a phrase."

"I think it's weird." Pietro replied, copying what I had said to him a few weeks ago. We stopped talking after that, we just sat there in the dark after the computer went to sleep. I thought he might have fallen asleep too until he spoke up.

"I am sorry, Sarah. I should not have said the things that I did." He apologized quietly. Earlier today I was ready to rip his head off, but after seeing him so torn up inside about it, I couldn't bring myself to argue anymore.

"It's ok I understand. You're under a lot of stress." He moved the bed a bit when he shook his blonde head in disagreement.

"It was still wrong of me."

"Really Pietro don't beat yourself up over it." Pietro paused for a moment before saying,

"Wanda was very angry with me when you did not show up for dinner."

"Whoops." I replied rather unenthusiastically. I had figured she would be, and that was partly the reason why I didn't go back. I wanted her to get mad at him for me. That's petty isn't it? Oh well.

"Whoops is right. After you left she came storming in back from training demanding to know what happened. She could sense our anger from the training room." He informed me, rubbing the back of neck.

"Did she bite your head off?"

"What?" He asked in alarm, his head cracked to the side to stare at me.

"I mean did she blow up on you?" I simplified.

"Oh, not exactly, but she was not happy." Pietro said moving back into his previous position, " _'Why do you always have to pick fights? Why can't you get along? Why are you so mean to Sarah_ '" Pietro mocked in a fake high pitch voice trying, and failing, to copy his sister properly.

"She doesn't sound like that." I giggled.

"Oh no, she sounds exactly like that." Pietro disagreed, covering a yawn.

"It is getting late." I commented sleepily, glancing at the clock. It was almost two.

"Yeah." Pietro agreed quietly, not making any moves to get off the bed. I couldn't see his face anymore since the laptop screen blacked out. But I could tell his head was hanging down to his chest. I elbowed him gently.

"Hey, you should go to bed. You look like you're about to drop."

"I cannot get my brain to stop thinking." He told me.

"Ok, well we can turn the TV on. The remote is on my dresser." No sooner had the words left my mouth that the remote was in my hand. "Thanks." I murmured. His speed was still disorienting, how on earth was Wanda so used to it?

He nodded and we repositioned ourselves to face the TV screen. I made sure to give myself plenty of space because the sleepier I got the more enticing Pietro's bare chest became. And that was not a good thing.

We found a random Lifetime movie on, one that I had never heard before and stuck with that. I tried to pay attention as long as I could, Pietro didn't seem to be tired in the slightest anymore so I wanted to stay up. But I gave up thirty minutes in and turned away from the screen, and pulled my blanket over my head to drown out the light. As I was falling asleep it occurred to me that Pietro could have watched a movie in his own room by himself.

When I woke up the next morning I looked around expecting to see Pietro's blonde head but I was the only one in my room. I hadn't dreamed the whole interaction right? I peered over at my window seat and saw that my pillows were displaced. OK, no it happened.

I twisted around to glance at my clock, it was barely seven. I sighed and went to lay back down before I had to be up for training at 9 when I caught a glimpse of yellow. I shuffled over to my dresser and sure enough there were a couple yellow daisies laying there with one of my pink sticky notes pinned to the stems.

 _Sorry again about yesterday. -P_

I smiled at this little gift. It was very sweet and unexpected; I wonder if Wanda put him up to it because I never pegged him for the sentimental type. My nose crinkled up a bit and started to itch when I sniffed the flowers. Absentmindedly I rubbed at it before I broke into a fit of sneezes. Reaching for my box of tissues I had a sudden epiphany. Oh that's right, I'm allergic to daisies. Where's the Benadryl?

* * *

 **So I have a love hate relationship with this chapter. I love certain elements of it while others I completely hate others, and it's a little rough around the edges. Hope you all liked it more than I did lol. Also I gave Nathaniel Clint's middle name instead of Pietro's first name because in this story Pietro didn't die to save Clint's life so I didn't see a good enough reason to name their child after him. Please don't hate me for that, i thought it made more sense!**

 **PLease Review! Have a great weekend!**


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